Separated Twins
by elvenangel3
Summary: Roxas and Sora are twins who were separated 6 years ago and find each other once again. Roxas meets Axel who is also a member of the Organization, an openly gay group of teens in a school filled with homophobes. Akuroku, SoRiku, Cleon, Zemyx.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: Roxas and Sora are twins who were separated 6 years ago when different families adopted them. Roxas finds Sora again when he moves to Hollow Bastion. Everything seems perfect if you don't count nearly the whole school being homophobes. He falls into the Organization, a group of friends who are openly gay and ends up meeting the school bullies. **

**Roxas POV**

**Couples: Axel/Roxas, Riku/Sora (main) and some sides of Cloud/Leon and Demyx/Zexion**

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I wandered around my new house with only an eyebrow raised in curiosity. I had moved far too many times to be bothered by it. This was the third house my current foster parents had bought, that's not even counting all the other homes I've had over the years. It was honestly getting monotonous. I supposed most teenagers would be angry at the constant changes, but I had long accepted these things as part of my shitty life.

The reason my life was shitty? Other than being an orphan of course, I had been separated from the only person I loved or even gave a damn about, Sora, my fraternal twin brother. What kind of people adopt one half of a person? That's what it felt like, Sora and I were just two parts of the same whole. Six years ago we had been ripped apart, and left to drift like forgotten shreds of paper. I would never forgive those people for it. They had wanted only one son, I didn't know why they chose me over the other boys our age at the orphanage, ones that weren't part of a pair. If they thought I was going to be a sweet ten-year-old they were damn surprised.

I did everything in my power to make them hate me. I disobeyed every order they gave me, I trashed things, I didn't do my homework, anything I could think of. After two months they had had enough, only thing was, after they adopted me we had moved. They weren't even decent enough to take me back to my old orphanage with Sora, no they dumped me at a different one. I've been through six foster parents in as many years because none of them can handle my attitude. I didn't care, I didn't need them. The two I have now are both in business traveling, they basically adopted me as a charity case to look good in their social circle. More often than not I had the ridiculously large house to myself, with a few rules not to break anything. Fine by me.

This new house seemed even bigger than the old one and it took me a while to finally find my new room. The brand new queen sized bed was already pushed against the far wall and my desk and TV were set up in the corner. I dumped my duffel bag and skateboard in front of the closet and looked inside. Geez, ostentatious much? I shrugged to myself and hoped that Hollow Bastion at least had some good skate parks.

"Roxas!" I heard my fake mom Yumi call my name from downstairs.

"What!" I yelled back not bothering to be polite.

"We're going out to eat! There's money on the counter for pizza!" she shouted back.

They hadn't met their new shareholders yet so there was no reason to tote me around like a trophy. I didn't bother replying to her and a few seconds later I heard the front door slam. Left to my own devices, I slowly started to bring more boxes up from the living room. The movers had already brought everything in the house but I hadn't let them touch my stuff. Underpaid assholes always broke things.

By the time I started feeling hungry I had tacked up all my band posters, filled the dresser with my clothes and threw everything else inside the closet. That's about all I planned to do. No doubt, I would manage to piss off Yumi and Takoshi enough to kick me out soon. This just saved me time in the long run.

I let my converse bang on the stairs as I headed down to the kitchen to order myself some dinner. They of course had already set up the entertainment center, so I flipped through channels while I waited. A loud knock had me vaulting over the back of the couch for my food. I opened the door and had to work to keep my face characteristically expressionless. The guy in front of me looked only a little older than my sixteen years and had the strangest combination of a mullet and Mohawk hairdo I had ever seen. The dirty blond boy grinned at me and rattled off my order and the price.

I blinked at him and dug the money out of my cargo pants, before slapping it into his hand and taking my large cheese. I turned to go back inside when he said, "Wait!"

I twisted my head around and glared at him impatiently, I was hungry dammit!

"Yeah?" I asked coolly.

"You guys just move here?" he asked and gestured through the open door to all the boxes laying around.

"Obviously." I said slowly. I hated it when people asked stupid questions.

"Er, right." he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, still grinning despite my cold demeanor. "You'll probably be going to my school then! Hollow Bastion High School, or HBHS for short hehe. Name's Demyx!" he said this very fast.

I nodded at him because I was pretty sure I had heard my fake parents talking about it on the way over from Traverse Town.

"Cool! I'm a senior, what grade are you?" he asked cheerfully.

"Sophomore. Look um, Demyx. I really just want to eat my pizza okay?" I finally told him getting a bit annoyed at his chattiness.

"Oh right sorry! I'll uh, probably see you at school tomorrow! Bye!" he turned and ran to his delivery scooter and took off.

Shaking my head I went back into the house to eat. I supposed that kid had been friendly enough but I only had so much patience with happy go lucky people. They reminded me too much of Sora, it was painful to think of how talkative and hyper he was. I never got irritated with him for it, just like he had never cared that I was more shy and introverted. We had perfectly complimented each other. I closed my eyes and pinched my arm hard, I did it every time I started to think of my lost twin. It wasn't a good idea to let me get too depressed. That's usually when I decided to do something stupid and end up suspended or on my way back to another orphanage.

I turned the TV to a mindless comedy and finished my pizza feeling more lonely than ever. Since I had moved families and cities so often, I barely made any friends. The few I did make didn't bother trying to keep in touch with an orphan that was constantly in trouble. I thought I might actually put in some effort at this new school to find some people to hang out with. I'd have to see if any of them were at all like me. I had stuck out as a sore thumb at my last school. I was the quiet, brooding, angry skater kid that hardly talked to anybody. Oh yeah, and the fag. Yeah that too. I never bothered trying to hide the fact that I was gay, I wasn't ashamed of it and I didn't give a fuck what other people thought of me.

I usually kept quiet about it at my home though, it was always a good bargaining chip to use if I wanted out. Sometimes, the foster parents tried to be "good people" and stick with me even if they couldn't stand me, trying to prove something. That's usually when I got fed up with it and told them the truth. It hadn't failed yet to get me a one way ticket to a different family.

I got annoyed at myself for my thoughts, and I flipped the TV off and headed back up to my room. I grabbed my iPod out of my duffel and threw myself on the bed. I turned on Marilyn Manson and let the music drown out my stupid thoughts. I didn't hear Yumi and Takoshi come home and they didn't come check on me. After the sun went down, I still lay there in the dark because I hadn't bothered to turn on the light. Eventually, I turned my music off and rolled over, still in my clothes to fall into an uneasy sleep.

Luckily, they did care enough to wake me up in the morning because I had forgot to set an alarm to get to school. I took a quick shower and changed into my baggy black cargo pants, layered band t-shirt and my ever-present checkered wrist-band. I dried my hair and rubbed a small amount of soft gel into it, my blond spikes were natural but the gel kept them from getting frizzy. I debated a moment then went ahead on put on some black eyeliner as well. I had decided not to hide anything and this was how I liked to look. I grabbed my iPod and skateboard and went downstairs. Yumi handed me some cash for food at school, and I decided to just skip breakfast. I wasn't usually hungry in the mornings anyway.

"Do you need a ride to school?" she asked distractedly while putting three different cell phones in her purse. Damn suits.

"I'll board it." I answered stiffly. I didn't want her fawning over me in front of anyone trying to look like a caring parent.

"But Roxas you haven't even been there before." she reminded me.

"You said it was a few blocks North. I'll follow the buses." I mumbled and headed out the door. She didn't try to stop me.

Kicking my board onto the pavement I sped towards my new school. Like I imagined, it wasn't hard to find from the house. I was even on time, or rather I got there when some people were still loitering on the front quad. The really shitty thing about moving all the time? This wasn't the beginning of the semester, it was already the start of November. While I was glad Hollow Bastion wasn't ridiculously cold yet, I hated getting attention for transferring in the middle of the year. Being the new kid was bad enough, but the only new kid at the time? Embarrassing as hell and more trouble than it is worth.

I ignored the looks I was receiving from the procrastinators and headed into the school. I was lucky yet again, the office was right in the entrance and I slipped in the door, quickly walking up to the secretary.

"You must be Roxas Hikari!" the brunette smiled at me kindly. I sighed and nodded. The secretary looked around thirty and had long hair tied in a pink ribbon with bangs. She introduced herself as Aerith, and said I was going to get a student to shadow me and show me around. I groaned internally, I hated having someone chauffeur me the first day of school. She paged over the intercom asking for Kairi Tilly to the office. We waited a few minutes, and I tried to avoid her gaze because she seemed like she wanted to talk.

The office door opened and a red-headed girl with a pink dress came in. She smiled at me and looked to Aerith.

"Yes Ms. Gainsborough?" she asked. Her voice wasn't high pitched and whiny like I was expecting. She looked a little preppy but didn't seem too bad actually.

"Kairi, will you show Roxas here," she gestured to me with another wide smile. "Around the school today? Show him his classes and tell him everything he needs to know? You're excused from your own classes with no penalty of course." Aerith explained and Kairi nodded obediently.

She turned to me and motioned to follow her out of the office.

"I hope you enjoy our school Mr. Hikari." Aerith called after me. I forced back a twitch at the name. It was my and Sora's last name together. I had refused to let any of my foster parents change it, needing to keep something to connect me to my brother. Whenever someone said it though, I couldn't help but feel a stab of pain.

"I'm a sophomore too." Kairi said as I followed her to my new locker. I put my skateboard inside but decided to keep my backpack since I didn't know what I'd need. I gave the lock a solid tug after closing it to make sure no one could get into it to steal my board, it was my most prized possession. Kairi waited patiently then strode off to find my first class for me. I didn't really know what to say so I kept quiet. I didn't really mind girls as long as they weren't annoying, but I never knew what to say to them either.

"Um, if you want to Roxas you can sit with me and my friends at lunch. I know you're new so you don't know anyone yet. That is, if you want to." Her eyes were wide with sincerity and I found myself nodding again, because really that was pretty nice of her. For all she knew I could be some drug addict or something, well I did smoke cigarettes whenever I could steal some off one of my fake parents but still, that didn't count.

We reached my first class, English and the whole class stared of course as we entered the room.

"Mr. Kim? This is Roxas, I'm supposed to escort him around today." Kairi said sounding shy with all of the students' attention on us. The black-haired man waved us towards two seats in the back and continued his lesson. We hastily sat down and Kairi whipped out a notebook to take notes. I was a bit confused as to why she needed to, when she turned to me and gestured I do the same. I shrugged at her and shook my head. I never bothered to take notes. I had a good memory and managed to get A's and B's when I cared to try. She frowned a little at me but left me to my own devices. She must be a teacher's pet.

Throughout our next few classes my suspicions were confirmed. She took notes for each one and did the in-class work as well. When I asked why she bothered, she said, "This way I don't fall behind."

"It's only a days worth." I reminded her.

"Still I could miss something important! Especially since I don't take all of the same classes as you do I could learn something different!" she informed me with a smile.

I decided that as nice as Kairi was, she needed to lighten up a little.

When lunch time rolled around I hadn't really talked to anyone else, so I figured I might as well sit with her and her friends. We reached her table after waiting in line for food, and as I had thought, it was full of preps.

"This is Tidus, Yuna, Olette, Pence, Hayner and Namine." she pointed out each person with their name and they smiled or waved at me. "Guys this is Roxas, I'm his escort today." she explained and sat down next to the blond girl introduced as Namine.

"Hey." I said trying to sound at least a little friendly. I didn't really want to piss off the only person I knew so soon. She patted the seat next to her and I sat down dropping my backpack at my feet.

"So, where did you move from?" Tidus asked curiously.

I fended off all of the usual questions as best I could. I really didn't like telling people the truth because then they felt pity for me and I hated that. I didn't want them being nice to me just because they felt bad for the poor orphan kid. I had become rather proficient at telling half-truths, enough of my real life so that I don't get confused, but enough of a lie to seem normal. After about ten minutes of the get-to-know-you bullshit they went back to their own conversations. I picked at my food only half listening.

"Did you see Marluxia today? He dyed his hair pink! I can't believe he hasn't gotten in trouble for it!" Yuna said this as if it were a huge scandal. I couldn't help but roll my eyes a little.

"Do they have a dress code?" I asked curiously, because honestly if they did I had to watch out.

"Oh no you don't have to worry about that Roxas." Olette said quickly.

"It's because he's a guy! I mean pink hair? It was obvious before, but now the whole town is going to know he's queer!" Hayner said getting riled up.

I snapped my gaze to him with a glare.

"He's what?" I said coldly.

"He's totally gay." Tidus agreed.

"Yep, a complete fag." Hayner said nodding importantly and looking arrogant. I wanted to punch him in the face.

"Is the whole school homophobic?" I asked flatly.

I was done trying to be nice to these people if they were like this. Kairi, Namine and Olette winced at this. The rest glanced around at each other looking excited at sharing gossip.

"Well, we aren't all homophobes per say. A lot of the guys that are openly gay get beat up though." Yuna explained while picking her sandwich apart. She didn't seem at all concerned about the students which she spoke of.

"Yeah, only the ones stupid enough to tell other people." Tidus said and wrapped his arm around Yuna, as if to prove he wasn't a 'fag'.

"Like everyone in the stupid Organization." Hayner added sourly.

"It's this gang of seniors that call themselves that," Namine explained quickly seeing my confusion. "Not all of their members are gay, but the ones that are, are pretty open about it." she had a soft voice.

"Actually, there are like twenty members unofficially. They and the bullies have a bit of a rivalry. Only some of the boys go after them though, especially after the last time they..." Yuna trailed off and shook her head. They were all looking a bit odd.

"They what?" I felt myself ask. I hoped they weren't a senior exclusive gang because it sounded like this was my only hope of surviving this school.

"Well, Seifer ended up in the hospital last time he and _his_ gang ambushed one of them. I think it was Zexion..." Olette continued the story.

"So?" I said uncaring.

"What do you mean so? He was just making sure they don't contaminate any of the rest of us." Hayner spat.

I had had enough of this shit. I stood abruptly and grabbed my backpack. I noticed the three girls besides Yuna looking embarrassed and a bit sad but I didn't care for them. I glared at the whole table.

"Fuck you bigots." I snarled keeping my voice low.

They nearly all flinched and I spun on my heel to stalk away from them leaving my half eaten lunch. I strode through the rest of the teenage horde still filling up the cafeteria, looking for a place separated from everyone. If this was the kind of mentality here I wasn't going to bother even trying to be civil. I opened the side doors and headed out to the middle quad, since we didn't have to stay on campus. There were less teens out here and they seemed to all be older. I spotted a large group of students hanging around under a tree, all dressed in black cloaks. I wondered if this was the Organization, they sure seemed like a gang dressing alike like that.

I suddenly spotted Demyx, the pizza delivery kid from last night, sitting at the bottom of the tree talking to another blond. I wondered if he would remember me at all. Who knew how many pizzas he delivered? One random kid probably wouldn't stand out to him. I let my gaze roam over the rest of the group since no one seemed to be paying me any attention. There were a few burly and rather scary looking guys, if I was being honest. Tattoos and piercings adorned most of the group. There were quite a few striking hair colors on them, one of which being the pink-haired guy those imbeciles had told me about.

"Hey kid!" I looked over automatically and saw Demyx waving at me and the others turned to look.

I stared back warily, only slightly intimidated by the large, and if rumors were true, protective group of seniors. Demyx beckoned me over, standing up happily. I shrugged to myself and walked over to them. I could see a boy with bright blue hair glaring at me, standing next to a rather creepy-looking boy with long white hair. Demyx stepped forward and patted my shoulder cheerfully.

"Hey! I wasn't sure if I would see you today. Large cheese right?" he said with a smile. I noticed a boy with dark silver hair that covered one eye, step up to Demyx's side the instant he had touched me.

"Who is this?" he asked quietly, his voice nearly monotone.

Demyx spun to face him and laced their fingers together, the gesture seeming to reassure the other.

"This is the guy I told you about last night. Just moved here." he said. About half of the group were paying attention to us while the rest had seemed to lose interest.

"Roxas." I introduced myself.

It was as though my name was an atom bomb, every one of them froze. Those who I had thought were in their own conversations whipped around to stare. Their eyes went wide and they all seemed to share an intense look. I was a bit shocked that telling them my name could have caused any kind of reaction. How could they have possibly heard of me? Bewildered, I glanced around at those closest to me. Demyx and his boyfriend, and a serious looking blond and brunette with a scar on his face.

"Um. Am I missing something?" I asked steadily and took a cautious step back.

"Do you know someone named Sora?" the other blond asked quietly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I know it's short but I couldn't help the cliffy. I have pretty much the whole story written, I just want to see what you think of it so far.


	2. Chapter 2

My heart stopped. My head felt dizzy and my legs turned to jello. I actually felt myself weave in place a bit.

"My. . . brother." I breathed trying not to hope. If it wasn't my Sora I wasn't sure I could handle it. Surely my already cracked heart would shatter. They shared an excited look between them and I opened my mouth to demand a response, when a voice behind me halted all thought process.

"What's going on?" they asked.

I instantly spun around to face him. There holding hands with a tall silver-haired senior. . . was my Sora. I knew him instantly, even though his sixteen-year-old self was quite different from his ten-year-old self. His brown hair still spiked in every direction. His bright blue eyes were the exact same shade as mine. I could tell even from our distance of twenty feet we were still the same height. The boy next to him was wearing a black cloak but Sora was wearing simple baggy jeans and. . . I choked up when I noticed he was wearing a band shirt that I owned as well, and he was wearing red converse while mine were black. The second our eyes met I knew he had done the same inventory of me.

Sora slowly let go of the other boy's hand and took a step forward.

"Roxas?" his voice was barely audible.

My eyes were glassy as we stared at each other for an immeasurable moment. The six years we had been apart weren't even in our conscious thought anymore. I felt whole again, my other half was standing just feet from me. Suddenly, the distance was too much.

I threw myself forward and Sora moved in the same moment, my name ripping from him in a strangled cry. In seconds we had collided and somehow, probably because we were still the same height and weight, managed to stay upright, our arms locking tight around each other.

The rest of the people around us disappeared, I was aware of nothing except the only person that had ever truly mattered to me. I could barely breathe he was hugging me so hard and I could hear breathless hiccups coming from him, his mouth right by my ear. I squeezed him back just as tightly and closed my eyes to keep from tearing up. I slowly became aware that I was rambling nonsense to him, how much I missed him, how I loved him more than anything. I would probably be a bit embarrassed later on, I wasn't ever this emotional, but right then I couldn't have stopped myself. I had always taken care of him, I felt as the older brother (by five minutes), it was my job to protect him. I stuttered out of words after a few minutes and fell silent, while he continued an endless mantra of _Roxas_.

"Oh. My. God." I heard someone behind us exclaim.

I heard the rest of the gang talking amongst themselves about us with surprise in their voices. I felt someone put their hands on both our shoulders but I didn't want to let go. Sora obviously felt the same because he whispered, "Just a minute." and didn't move away. The hands fell off and they let us be.

My tunnel vision finally widened out again as I heard the bell ring signaling the end of lunch. I slowly opened my eyes because I wanted to get a closer look at my twin. Sora felt me pulling back and moved as well. We took one step apart and lowered our hands to clasp both together with each others'.

I let my eyes roam over him and noticed our small differences. His arms were more tan than mine, and he had more freckles. We seemed to have the same muscle mass, though it was hard to tell through our shirts. His voice was of course deeper than it had been, since we had gone through puberty since the last time we had seen each other. I wondered if I sounded weird to him. His voice sounded perfect to me.

"I missed you." we both said at the same time. We smiled softly, softer than any expression I had used for six years.

_I love you._ My eyes told him.

_I love you too Roxas._ His expression said back.

"Isn't that just the cutest thing ever!" Someone yelled behind us.

It seemed no one wanted to miss our reunion, even for the tardy bell that rang out loudly across the grounds.

"Get to class! All of you!" Speak of the devil, I glanced away from Sora finally to notice a teacher standing by the doors with her hands on her hips looking ticked off. "What are you all waiting for!" she yelled angrily.

The rest of the students around us muttered mutinously but slowly headed back towards the building. We turned as well and my right hand released his left so we could walk, but kept the other set laced together. I was barely looking in front of me at all, trusting his friends to make sure we didn't walk into a wall. I didn't want to look away from him, Sora sharing the same sentiment. The others that kept close chuckled at us, and I noticed the boy he had been holding hands with had recaptured Sora's now freed one. I didn't mind at the moment but, I really didn't want to share him with anyone.

"Next class?" he asked me when we reached the hallway.

"No idea." I answered quietly.

Demyx laughed in front of us and finally stopped, making us stop as well.

"Okay you two, focus for a second alright? Roxas, open your backpack and find your schedule." He gave us direction and I was a little embarrassed to actually need it.

Wrenching my gaze away from Sora, I used my free hand to dig out the appropriate piece of paper. Apparently, Kairi had got the message that I didn't want her helping me the rest of the day. I scanned it quickly.

"Chemistry." I said and looked to my brother. His smile lit up his face just the same as it used to.

"Excellent." we said together.

"Marluxia was right, that it so cute." Demyx said sounding happy.

"Sora? I'll see you in P.E. Okay?" the silver-haired boy said next to us.

"Okay Riku."

Sora turned to smile softly at him and leaned up to give him a quick kiss on the lips. Finding out my twin was gay seemed natural to me. Sora had a light blush when he turned back around and I grinned at him. Demyx and his boyfriend left us quickly muttering about their own classes. I let Sora lead me to Chemistry.

The teacher did not look pleased when we walked in still holding hands, about ten minutes late. The class stared in shock at us, for most of the rest of the student body had not witnessed our reunion, and no doubt thought we were a couple. I couldn't have cared less and didn't let go of Sora as we took the last two empty seats, conveniently already next to each other. Our Chemistry teacher called the class back to order and set us to working on a lab. I could hear whispers about us floating around, most of which were negative but Sora and I paid no mind. I was sure he was used to it, since he and Riku were openly dating.

For our part, we were surprised we didn't get sent to the principal's office because we were hardly paying attention. We managed to get the work done but mostly because Sora seemed to know exactly what to do already in this class. I remembered him being rather lazy about school work when we were kids and was curious about this change. We didn't bother speaking with audible words, but rather our intuitive twin connection that no one but us could understand.

When the bell rang, we stood and once again clasped hands and went with the crowd back into the hallway. Sora tugged me over to the wall of lockers out of the hustle and bustle and pressed his forehead to mine.

"Next class?" he asked softly, just like before. I smiled at him and fished my schedule back out of my pocket.

"Math. Then P.E." I recited.

His identical blue eyes saddened a bit. _Not Math._ They told me.

I cursed and he laughed.

"P.E. Though." we said together quietly.

"Ew, you guys are gross." a voice said to us from close by.

"Fuck off." I snapped, not even bothering to glance their way. The owner of the rude voice huffed and then left us alone.

Sora straightened and moved to lead me through the halls again. This time was a little more tricky as he had to keep swerving around everyone else, but we managed to keep hold of each other. He stopped in front of a closed door and turned to face me.

"I guess you noticed we're surrounded by idiots." Sora said staring at me sadly.

"Yeah, I accidentally wound up sitting with some major homophobes. The name Hayner ring a bell?" I said bitterly.

Sora's eyes sharpened angrily and I had my thoughts confirmed, it didn't surprise me that the asshole had bothered my brother and his friends.

"He's cornered me a couple times." Sora said and glanced away.

"He what?" I snarled. Immediately, I made plans to find the bastard and kick the shit out of him. No one. Ever. Hurt my twin without serious pain being inflicted. Funny how they failed to mention at lunch that Hayner had a gang as well.

"Riku keeps them away from me most of the time. Occasionally, well he can't be around all the time since we don't share most classes. I mean, he is a senior." At this he blushed a bit. Score for Sora, snagging a senior when we were only sophomores. He sobered again. "They pick on me because I'm not technically part of the Organization." he told me.

I shook my head and was about to tell him to just go ahead and join then when the bell rang. I cursed again and Sora smiled at me fondly. He never did really cuss much, at least when we were ten, but he always was amused when I did.

"Just an hour." he said and pressed his forehead to mine again. We always used to do that for comfort. I simply nodded against him. We ever-so-slowly pulled away, and he turned to get to his class while I slipped through the door. We had been standing out of sight of the class but, the rumors of what happened at lunch had already circulated now so all the students were talking about us anyway.

"Settle down!" The gruff looking teacher barked and silence was restored. I forced myself to try and pay attention in this class. This teacher did not look very lenient. He was wearing a red coat with a tall cowl, black hair streaked with gray, and had a scar running over one eye. The plaque on his desk simply read: Auron.

He gave us instructions and problems to do. I had to try and block out the quiet mutters of those closest to me. I had sat in back as per usual so Auron couldn't hear them. I recognized the boy sitting two seats away as Pence and heard him mumble something to his friend with my name in it. I gave him a nasty glare and went back to my work. Only a little while longer until I would see Sora again. I wondered if I could switch any of my classes to the same ones as his. I was sure I would have noticed him this morning in those classes, even with Kairi talking my ear off.

The second the bell rang I was out of my chair and into the hallway before anyone else. Sora had pointed out the gym to me on our way to Math so I knew where to go this time. I expertly weaved through the passing students, being short did come in handy from time to time. Not that I would admit it even under torture. I raced forward and in no time, I saw Sora waiting in front of the locker room.

We smiled our smile again and reached out at the same time to lace our hands together. He pulled me into the locker room, past the rest of the boys in our class changing and stopped by Riku and the quiet blond from earlier.

"This is Riku, my boyfriend. And this is our friend Cloud." Sora said sounding official.

He reluctantly dropped my hand to start changing into his gym clothes. I hadn't brought any yet so I nodded my head to the two seniors and sat down on the bench behind us.

"You have no idea how much we've heard about you." Cloud informed me as he pulled his t-shirt over his head.

I barely paid attention to his well-toned chest. Under normal circumstances I would have because he was dammed attractive but, Sora is here and as a boy, my mind can only handle so much at once. I chuckled to myself at my thoughts.

"Have you lived here the whole time?" I finally asked my twin.

We hadn't gotten around to really asking questions yet. I figured there would be a few minutes before we actually had to start doing anything in class.

"I was at the orphanage for a few more months until Daisuke and Akemi adopted me. We moved here and I've been with them since. They're actually really nice. They..." Sora trailed off here, looking so sad I had to come over again and take his hand in mind. I squeezed it encouragingly. Cloud and Riku had paused to watch us.

"They said...if they had met us before those people took you, they would have taken both of us." Sora said and his voice cracked.

I used our twined hands to pull him to me and hugged him tightly. To know what might have been. . .To know if they had come just a little sooner, we could have been living together this whole time. . . It made me furious all over again at the couple that had split us apart. I didn't even like thinking their names. Riku and Cloud shared a look and quietly left the now empty locker room.

Sora started to shake against me with silent tears and I knew I was shaking too for the same reasons, but with additional anger and frustration.

"It doesn't matter now." I muttered darkly. I cleared my throat, knowing that Sora didn't like seeing me upset. "We're together again and," I pulled back to lock our eyes. "No matter what, no one is ever splitting us up ever again." I said firmly.

Sora nodded quickly. His eyes were glassy but there were no tear marks on his face.

"Boys! You better get out here!" a harsh voice sounded through the locker room. We quickly shook ourselves free of our dark thoughts and dashed out into the gym.

It looked like we were playing volleyball, if the net was anything to go by. Sora and I ended up on the same team and I recognized one or two others from the Organization by sight. They greeted us with waves. I wasn't that bad at volleyball, Sora was better than me though. He had the quicker hand-eye coordination, but I always won at skateboarding or rollerblading. Well, at least that's how it had been before. Deciding on yet more things I had to relearn about my twin, I managed to at least not be the worst on the team.

When the last bell of the day rang I was ecstatic. Finally, uninterrupted time with Sora. We walked back to the locker room as a group and Riku and Cloud followed us back to their corner.

"You have to come over Rox." Sora was saying happily as he changed back into his street clothes. I was just happy I had an excuse not to wear the crappy shorts that were the gym dress code yet. I opened my mouth to reply, but Riku interrupted me.

"No, he should come over to Xemnas's house with all of us. He needs to meet everyone properly." the silverette said glancing between us.

Sora and I shared a look. While I did want to actually meet the rest of the gang members (how mafia sounding), all I really cared about was spending time with my brother. I sighed, I guess he would be there as well.

"It'll only be for a couple hours and then we can go back to my place. You can eat dinner with us." Sora reassured me.

"Yeah. Okay." I agreed.

I followed them to Sora's locker, which happened to be right next to Riku's, then we made our way to mine. When I dug out my skateboard Sora squealed. Startled, we all looked at him trying not to laugh and he blushed a bit.

"I just, I didn't know you still had one." he muttered sheepishly.

I smiled at him genuinely (my reputation as a bad-ass is so over), and we made our way out of school.

"Riku always drives me to school so you can just ride with us." Sora said, swinging our hands back and forth. A thought suddenly occurred to him, and he spun to face me worriedly.

"You're foster parents won't care if you come over right? Please tell me they don't care about family dinners or something." he actually looked a bit panicked. I couldn't help but chuckle.

"They don't give a damn about where I eat, as long as I eat. It's no big deal." I answered and climbed in the back of Riku's Honda Civic.

Sora scrambled in after me looking concerned. Great now I've jump started his over-protective mode.

"What do you mean they don't care?"

"I'm kinda just a charity case to them, Sora. They adopted me so it'd look good to all of their fund-raising coworkers and shit." I didn't really feel the need to go into details. Unfortunately, this news did not sit well with him.

"How dare they? You mean they don't even care if you're at home or like, do your school work or anything?" he was getting into full rant mode now. I quickly cut him off before he got too carried away.

"Really it's not a big deal! They leave me money for food and clothes and stuff. They'd care if I got an F or something." I said trying to calm him down. The only reason they would care if I flunked was because it would make them look bad, but Sora didn't need to know that. Indeed my brother still looked rather dubious. His eyes flicked to Riku in the front seat.

"That doesn't sound like they care very much, does it Riku?" he asked his boyfriend, no doubt looking for some back up. However, Riku had been watching us in the rear view mirror and shook his head quickly.

"I'm not getting involved in this one. Sorry babe."

Sora huffed. He caught my eyes again and his look clearly said _I'm not gonna drop this._ I sighed to myself, he really didn't need to worry about my home life, or lack there of I supposed. I steered the conversation back into safer waters, asking what he'd been doing the last six years for instance.

"Oh, like I said I've lived here since we were ten. I met Riku right away and we got really close. He asked me out at the end of last year." Sora said proudly with a big smile.

I gave him a small amused smile. I wouldn't mind having someone of my own, but I was happy that he had someone to care for him while I wasn't around. Sora continued,

"I knew a few of the Org members by then and we've all kinda hung around the last few years. My foster parents are really nice to me, and they aren't strict or anything. I think you'll like them Rox."

"If I don't, we can always just hang at my place. My fake parents aren't even home so we'd have the whole place to ourselves. It's huge too, so if you wanted to invite a couple of your friends..." I trailed off leaving the invitation hanging. Sora seemed kinda excited at the prospect.

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Okay so next chapter you get to kind of meet everybody. Yeah, hope you guys liked it.


	3. Chapter 3

Riku had been driving through a rich looking neighborhood and suddenly parked on the road behind a long line of cars. Sora slid out of the back seat and I followed him curiously. The house in front of us looked larger than mine, which really was rather impressive and superfluous at the same time. I counted ten cars lined around the drive-way and figured this was a usual occurrence. I was proven right as my two companions didn't bat an eyelash and headed for the front door.

We didn't even have to knock, the door was pulled open by a burly teenager with long black dreadlocks. I blinked up at his height, which was rather a good distance above mine. Damn vertically challenged genes.

"Hey Xaldin, is everyone here yet?" Riku asked casually, as we made our way around him.

The angry looking senior shrugged a bit and it seemed that was all the answer we were going to get. I tried to check the place out discreetly as I followed them down a long hallway into what looked like the main living room. The ceiling was very tall, a large furniture set and entertainment center dominated most of the room, there was even a bar set in the back corner. I whistled softly.

"A bit dramatic the first time you see it huh?" a voice asked from behind me.

I turned to face the newcomer and was struck momentarily silent. This guy. . .had to be _the sexiest_ boy I had seen for quite a while. His hair was almost impossibly bright blood-red and set off by brilliant emerald eyes. He had curious tear drop tattoos high on his cheekbones, Ouch. Dude had balls to get tats on his face. He was a good head taller than me and was very lean, I could see the outline of muscles through his thin shirt though. I watched his eyes give me a slow once over and he smirked.

"I'm Axel. Got it-" He started to say but a voice cut in loudly.

"Yes! We have it memorized! Shut it already." A blond with a goatee and quite a few piercings in his ears stalked by us with a scowl.

"You're no fun Luxord." Axel teased.

"Don't encourage them." the silver-haired boy whose name I still hadn't heard, added.

"This is Zexion." Demyx said as if reading my mind, following his boyfriend over to us.

I nodded at him curiously. Wasn't it Olette that said something about the last time Zexion got beat up someone ended up in the hospital? I looked him over discreetly, aware of Demyx standing next to us. I didn't see any bruises so it must not have been recently.

Most of the group had gathered around the various amount of couches and I assumed they normally came to this guy's place, Xemnas was it? His house seemed equipped for a large amount of people. I caught Sora's eyes and he ushered me closer, while Riku took a seat next to a couple I hadn't been introduced to.

"Hey guys!" he shouted over their conversations and to my surprise the older teens actually listened, their voices drifted off to let Sora speak. I didn't think they really paid him much attention since he wasn't one of their members. I reminded myself though, that they all instantly knew who I was. Obviously dating a member got you the same amount of respect, at least within their group.

"All of you um, probably noticed earlier I finally found my brother, Roxas." he said this like he'd just won the lottery and I smirked at him. Sora gestured absently at the shouts of laughter from some of them. "So, Roxas this is the Organization..." he named off all the people sitting around us and I tried to remember all of them.

I could finally put a name to the brunette with the scar who followed Cloud around, Leon. I was able to pick out Xemnas, and the other guy with the 'X' scars across his face who had glared at me was named Saix. There were two girls in the group which surprised me, since apparently they were known as a gay gang. The blond and black-haired girls seemed like polar opposites but they looked rather cozy, the shorter one sitting on the others' lap.

I gave them all a shy wave. Sora had no trouble speaking in front of crowds, even though this group was made up of mostly friends. I really preferred a smaller setting.

"We should have a party in celebration!" Marluxia shouted and rubbed his hands together. This idea was taken up with several more yells of agreement. I tried to keep the grimace off my face. Parties were about as exciting to me as string cheese is to a vegetarian.

I caught Axel's eyes again and he winked at me. I turned my head away quickly to avoid a blush. What the hell? Geez, I can't believe I've only been here one day and already have the hots for someone. I wasn't sure he was single and not just a big flirt either. With a group of quite a few confirmed homosexuals I couldn't be sure he didn't already have a boyfriend. I decided to ask Sora once we were alone.

Several of the teens got up to head outside for a smoke and the rest seemed to chat amongst themselves again, a few started up the PS3 in the corner. I was torn between wanting to talk to a few specific people and trying to sneak a cigarette. I didn't really want Sora to know I smoked, but he was caught up in a discussion with Leon and Demyx. I quickly darted after the smoking group.

I opened the back door slowly and noticed I hadn't talked to any of these particular people. Then I saw Axel come through the door behind me. I smirked at him to cover my nerves.

"Bum a smoke?" I asked with an arched eyebrow. I didn't want him to know I was attracted yet. The red-head returned the smirk.

"Starting young?" he asked sounding amused, none-the-less he pulled two out of pack. I nipped it out of his hand making sure our fingers didn't touch.

"Hey, we have a new convert." One guy with an eye patch and some painful looks scars grinned at me. I returned it weakly. Why did so many of these guys have scars? Then I remembered those idiots at lunch telling me about all the bullying. I glanced back through the glass door making sure Sora wasn't nearby, then leaned forward conspiratorially.

"So listen, Kairi was telling me at lunch that there's some serious bullies and fights going on in this school. Is that true?" I figured I should ask before making myself look like a retard.

Almost at once, those around me frowned and shared dark looks between them. Luxord nodded seriously and motioned me closer. We all gathered around the tall blond.

"I don't know what you were doing sitting with those people-" he started off.

"She was my shadow, I left as soon I figured out they were homophobes." I broke in quickly. I didn't want them thinking I was okay with people like that.

The others seemed to relax a bit and Axel patted my shoulder. It tingled afterwords.

"Well, the little bitch was right about that at least. It's practically a declared war at this point." Luxord said and took a long inhale off his smoke.

"It didn't used to be this bad." Larxene sounded pissed off. I wasn't sure if that was normal for her though, she looked a little angry anyway.

"What changed?" I asked curiously.

"Well, not to point blame or anything but, there quite a few couples that 'came out' at the end of last year. Started being really open you know? I guess it was a bit too much for the meat heads at school." Luxord explained with his brows furrowed.

"They mentioned someone was hospitalized last time? How is it no one is getting arrested?" This had just occurred to me. If the fighting was this serious surely someone would have been reported?

"Nah, all their mommies and daddies are hooked up politically. Actually, I can't really trash that 'cause it's the same on our side of the fence. It's the only reason the cops haven't been called. It's an unwritten rule at this point. If either side starts reporting the beatings, all of us are gonna end up in jail. It stays pretty even this way."

My stare was incredulous. The others chuckled humorlessly.

"Are you serious? You guys beat the shit out of each other and no one gets in any trouble?" My eyebrows were probably approaching my hairline. No wonder bullies were crazy at school, that sounded like anarchy.

"Well, if it's on school property those involved get detentions. The teachers usually stay out of it though. I mean yeah, a lot of the students are bigots but there's only two other gangs that actually do something about it. The rest are indifferent, and the prejudice doesn't really seep into the staff. They play it all pretty evenly."

Luxord lit up another cigarette and Axel wordlessly handed me another one.

"So, you said there's two other gangs? I know about Hayner's." I glared down at my converse, remembering his words from earlier. "Who runs the other one?"

"Ah, well it isn't actually _his_ gang, a blond named Seifer is the guy in charge there. The other one is led by a rich kid named Rufus. He and his cronies are nasty pieces of work." Xigbar inserted.

"Are they seniors too? It just seems a little weird that Hayner, I mean this guy Seifer's gang causes so much trouble if they're younger than all of you." I didn't want to insult these guys who seemed pretty cool, but it had been bugging me.

"Well," Axel was the one to answer me this time. "They tend to go after those of us who can't fight as well, or if they can catch one of us alone. The ones they don't ever mess with are Xemnas and Saix and the like. Lexaeus and the other guys built like him, they don't stand a chance of hurting so they don't bother. Actually, ah." Axel stopped himself and gave me a considering look.

"Sora already told me they mess with him a lot." I said with a glare.

Axel nodded quickly and continued.

"Yeah so, the rest of us don't worry too much about Hayner and them but, Rufus you have to watch out for. He's got a few other seniors with him and they're nothing to sneeze at. Rude and Reno will fuck you up if they catch you off guard. You probably shouldn't be going off on your own much." he added staring at me, his voice solemn.

That unfortunately, sounded like a good bit of advice. All of their faces had become unreadable as he told me about this older gang. If these assholes were really that serious I couldn't afford to get ambushed. I knew how to handle my own, I had been suspended enough times for fighting to prove it. I knew I didn't have a chance against the gang of seniors though, and I could only take on two maybe three depending on their skill out of Hayner's gang. I shook my head in frustration, this was going to suck.

"Especially considering, some people probably think you and Sora are dating now with how you two were acting after lunch." Luxord pointed out.

I glared at him.

"Hey! We're fucking twins we can hold hands if we want to." I growled and crossed my arms.

He held his hands out in peace while Xigbar and Larxene laughed. Axel seemed to be considering something.

"Hey um, speaking of..." I trailed off not really wanting to be blunt about it.

"Are we all shacking up with each other?" Larxene asked mockingly.

"No! I mean, uh since you said there were some couples I was just wondering." I grimaced at her.

"Yeah, some of us are dating, like Cloud and Leon, Larxene and Xion, Xemnas and Saix, Demyx and Zexion and Sora and Riku of course. The rest of us stay pretty chill." Xigbar took pity on me.

I was acutely aware of a certain red-head's name being left out of the dating pool. My grin was sly as I shot him a look, let him keep staring at me now. Our eyes locked for a moment and he returned my grin with intense eyes.

"Hey there you are- Roxas since when do you smoke!"

Sora sounded scandalized when he found our gossiping group. I quickly dropped my nearly extinguished cigarette and stepped it out with an apologetic look. His blue eyes were narrowed and he crossed his arms, unconsciously mimicking me.

"We can't even buy those legally yet. What the hell Rox?" he asked sounding every bit the mother hen.

"I'm the older one Sora, I can decide what I want to do." I reminded him.

"By five minutes!" he shrieked with old-remembered outrage.

The four others on the patio laughed with amusement.

"Five minutes still makes me older." I said smugly and smirked at my twin. He gaped at me for a minute, then his look became devious.

"Sora," I growled and uncrossed my arms to drop into a defensive stance. "There's lots of things around to break, we shouldn't-" I was cut off as my brother launched himself at me and I was forced into a backwards roll.

We always used to wrestle if we got into any kind of argument. Not that we actually fought for real, or even argued over anything important for that matter; it was just the principal of the thing. The others scattered out of our way as we rolled around on the balcony trying to get the upper hand. I managed to knee him off me and scrambled to sit on Sora's back.

"Did I miss something?" Riku's voice brought both of our attention to the back door, where we had a bit of an audience going.

About half the assembled teens were watching us with smirks or laughing out loud. I grinned triumphantly, having by our rules won the contest, since I managed to stay on top for over ten seconds.

"He's five minutes older." Sora sighed underneath me sounding melancholy.

Riku laughed, a deep rich sound that was pleasant to listen to. He strode forward and I climbed off his boyfriend obligingly. He gave Sora a hand up and pulled him to his side, ruffling his hair affectionately.

"It's okay love. You're still adorable." he told my brother and Sora smiled at him adoringly.

I couldn't help but make gagging noises and Sora reached over to punch me in the arm. We laughed at each other and the group headed back inside. Sora and I circulated a bit then ended up mostly talking with Cloud and Leon, who were actually rather quiet, and Riku of course.

Axel and I kept glancing across the room at each other. I would wait purposely for him to notice me staring before I would look away. I could tell he was just as interested as I was. We ended up staying until almost six, when Sora called his foster mom and asked when dinner was supposed to be ready.

"We should get going. See you guys tomorrow!" My brother called to the room at large.

I gave Axel one last lingering look. The others simply waved us off and we headed out the door with Riku in tow. Sora and I raced to the silverette's car, he beat me by half a second and his grin was every big as smug as mine had been earlier. We kept our hands clasped as we teased each other on the ride back to Sora's house.

Riku left the car to idle on the curb and we let ourselves out. Sora went around the driver's side to say goodbye and I turned to observe his house. For the most part it blended in to the surrounding neighborhood that wasn't as expensive looking as mine, but was all the nicer for it. A well-kept flower bed swept the expanse of the front of the house and there were some nice big trees I could see peaking over the roof from the backyard. It looked very homey.

"Bye!" I heard Sora chirp behind me and then he was passing me towards the front door.

"Do they all hang out everyday like that?" I asked him because it had seemed like a routine.

Sora didn't even pause over the threshold, he ushered me inside to kick off our shoes before answering.

"Yeah pretty much, it's usually at Xemnas's house 'cause his is the biggest but, if his parents are around sometimes we'll trade off. It's kinda nice isn't it?" he asked as I followed him through the den and into the kitchen where I saw his foster parents sitting.

I had expected our meeting to be a little awkward. Once Sora had told them who I was though, it was all I could do not to be suffocated by them. Akemi squealed and raced over to hug the life out of me, and Daisuke smiled real wide and came to stand next to us. She insisted on serving me dinner and chatted away about how much they loved Sora, and how wonderful it was we found each other again. Almost against my will I found myself liking them. Both seemed to genuinely care for Sora, and were very friendly people. Again, I felt the loss of knowing how things might have turned out, but didn't.

I made sure to be as nice as I could stand to them. Akemi, once she found out I was on my own a lot, insisted I come over as much as possible to spend time with my brother. I was only too happy to promise her. We ate dinner together like a real family and then they waved us off upstairs by ourselves. I found myself smiling as Sora closed the door to his bedroom.

"You were right, they're pretty awesome." I told my twin as I sat in his computer chair. Sora threw himself across his bed with a contented sigh.

"Told you so."

Finally, we had time to spend without anyone else around us. We didn't really bother with speaking, letting our eyes do the talking for us. I couldn't believe he had been living here all this time and I was only a few cities away. I crossed over to sit next to him on the bed and reached for his hand, at the the same time he reached for mine. It was relief knowing that no matter how much time apart we were still in tune to each other. I had worried that whenever I found him again, because I had promised him I'd look for him as soon as we reached eighteen, that we could wouldn't be able to connect the same anymore.

"Hey, Rox?" Sora said after some time had passed. I hummed in reply. "You don't, mind that I'm gay right?" he asked and his voice was more shy than I had ever heard from him coming towards me. I snapped my head over to look at him incredulously.

"Uh, Sora? Did you not see me checking out Axel all day?" I asked him seriously.

His eyes widened a bit, then became contemplative.

"Yeah I guess I didn't really think anything of it at the time." he muttered. My eyes narrowed.

"I know that sometimes you play dumb for people but I know you better than that. You aren't that oblivious." I wondered what he was playing at.

"It's just...if you two start dating, you'll end up painting a pretty big target on yourself." My twin sounded worried. I squeezed his hand in response.

"It's pretty obvious just hanging out with all of you is gonna do that anyway. I'm not concerned." I told him honestly. He shook his head stubbornly.

"It's not the same! Hayner didn't really start following me around until after and Riku and I were out in the open." His free hand tugged a cinnamon spike in frustration. I turned him to face me, my expression dead set.

"Sora, don't worry about this. I've been in a lot of fights the last couple years okay? More than I should probably tell you about really. I can handle myself." I kept my voice firm because he was always very stubborn when it came to anything that could cause me harm. I was the same of course, but it was still unnecessary.

"Yeah I get that but-"

I cut him off with a finger to his lips. Identical blue eyes were worried. I let my expression tell him the truth, I was more worried about the repeated bullying he had to deal with than any possibility of my own. His eyes told me he didn't care and wouldn't drop this for a while. I nodded back to him, yeah I wasn't giving in either. I pulled my hand away and we grinned wryly at each other.

"Okay then." We said in unison.

After playing some video games for a while his foster mom yelled up the stairs that it was getting late, and did I need a ride home? I realized I did need to go home to get a change of clothes at least for school tomorrow. I didn't really fancy separating again but there wasn't much for it. I sighed at my brother our expressions forlorn.

"Next time, you can bring some stuff over here so you can sleep over more okay?" Sora said determinedly. Like I was going to argue.

Akemi drove me home, with Sora coming along of course. Turns out he only lived a couple miles from my place, a distance I could cross on my skateboard easily. We were pleased.

"Wanna come in and see the place?" I asked both of them when Akemi had parked in the driveway.

"We'd love to sweetie, but you both have school tomorrow. I don't think it would end up being a short visit, next time though for sure." she said gently, but with a firmness I recognized as parental statute. My sigh was the same instant as Sora's.

"Yeah alright." I mumbled. Sora jumped out to hug the life out of me, and then the car was backing away. I waved them down the street feeling my heart constrict a bit. You'll see him tomorrow Roxas, get a grip. I hefted my things up and let myself into the house.

My fake parents always came home ridiculously late so all the lights were out. It was irritating not knowing my way around the house in the dark yet, so I flipped on a few lights to find my way to my room. I dropped my stuff unceremoniously and fell onto my bed, emotionally exhausted.

It felt wrong to know where my brother was and not be living with him. Guess it's a good thing Yumi and Takoshi don't care too much, because I planned on practically living at Sora's house from now on. I was only going to leave when Akemi kicked me out again. With a small smile I went to bed, blasphemously excited to go to school the next day.

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And we meet Axel finally! I hope you liked their interaction, more in the next chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

I was waiting in front of the school for Sora to arrive. I felt jumpy, I woke up constantly last night and my legs were jittery. I had seen a few Organization members arrive and I nodded at each one in greeting, but didn't move from my spot. They understood pretty quick and headed into school on their own. Finally, I saw Akemi's car pull up to the curb and I grinned at the brunette that shot like a bullet out of it. Sora tackled me headlong before I was aware of how close he was. I hit the pavement with an 'Oof!'. Funny, he hadn't felt this heavy when we were wrestling yesterday.

"Ow, Sora." I groaned at him. He just smiled his megawatt smile down at me.

"Jeez babe, he's been here for one day and you're gonna kill him already?" Riku's deep voice had an amused lilt to it.

"Some help?" I asked the tall silver-haired boy that had come to stand next to us. He smirked at me and bent to easily lift Sora up. My twin immediately gave me a hand up with an unapologetic chuckle.

"Hi Roxas." he said.

"Yeah, yeah Sora. My back thanks you." I grumbled outwardly, but my eyes said _I missed you too._

"Come on, we probably shouldn't make a habit of being tardy all the time." Sora said and we headed inside.

"Hey, I'm gonna go ask that secretary if she can change some of my classes to yours. You need to come too." I told my brother and he nodded enthusiastically.

"See you second period." Sora said to Riku and gave him a peck on the cheek. The taller teen nodded and gave my shoulder a pat as he continued down the hall.

We turned and went into the office with high hopes. Ms. Gainsborough didn't disappoint us, once we told her the story (apparently most of the teachers here had heard about Sora's long-lost-brother by now) she was more than happy to align our schedules. I was impressed that she didn't have any problems, classes were usually so full this late in the year they didn't have room.

"You're a special case Roxas." Was all she said with a warm smile.

We grinned at her and she laughed.

"Sweet! Now we can sit by each other in every class."

Sora was bouncing a bit as we headed towards our first class. It had taken Aerith a little while to shuffle my schedule so the halls were empty. Luckily, she had given us passes so we didn't get in trouble.

"Hey fags!" a voice called out to our left.

We snapped to the side to see Hayner, Tidus and another blond I hadn't met (who I assumed was that guy Seifer the others had told me about) leaning against some lockers.

"Shut your mouth!" I spat. I was instantly ready to fight. Let them think they run this place, I'd show them different.

"Are you gonna make me? We all know you and your little boyfriend aren't gonna do anything." The blond teen goaded, pushing away from the wall to take a step towards us. I felt Sora tense beside me.

"Yeah, if I had known you were a fucking gay I wouldn't have let you sit with us." Hayner said sounding sickened, like I had some kind of disease.

"We're twin brothers you fucking morons!" I snarled at them.

The other three blonds blinked momentarily, then gathered themselves back quickly.

"Makes it all the worse, and here I thought little _Sora_ was dating _Riku_." Seifer's deep voice was a drawling tease. "Guess you are just a slut. No surprise when-"

My fist impacting his jaw cut off Seifer's taunt. No one treats my brother like that. The taller teen fell backwards and hit the lockers, the other two staring at me in shock for a second. Clearly they weren't used to retaliation from smaller groups.

"Don't call him a slut." I growled and dropped into a defensive stance, just in time for Hayner to come at me with a clenched fist.

I dodged to the side and kicked the back of his knee, making his leg give out. Hayner fell to the floor ungracefully. I heard Sora shout a warning and spun in time to get a punch to the stomach from the revived Seifer. I gasped painfully but managed to twist away from his next strike. Ducking low, I threw my shoulder into his unprotected side and sent him sprawling. Tidus seemed to just be watching the show and made no move to help out his friends. I stepped back quickly as the other two stood up slowly, seeming to re-evaluate me.

"Yeah I'm not a push over, and I'm not gonna take your shit either." I said coldly.

"You two just watch your back from now on." Seifer hissed. He signaled the other two and they took off down the hallway. If the situation had been less serious, I would have laughed at the cliché of it.

I turned to Sora with narrowed eyes which widened when I saw his look of fear. I approached him quickly and took his hand.

"What's wrong?" I asked in a whisper, forgetting that we really needed to get to class.

"Next time they're gonna make sure you're alone. They'll probably bring more people since they know you can fight now." Sora answered miserably.

"Don't worry about it." I repeated my mantra to him. I tugged him in the direction of History.

"Are you okay?" he asked suddenly.

I felt my stomach gingerly and it twinged in response.

"It's not bad. I've been hit harder." I said lightly.

"..."

"Guess that Seifer kid is just a pussy." I tried making Sora laugh, but failed.

His eyes narrowed at me.

"Probably just because you surprised him. I've heard he's pretty strong." he contradicted me.

I would have continued the debate, but we had to duck into class and hand the harassed-looking teacher our hall passes. The next few periods passed without further incident. The bullies hadn't spread the news around so no one knew of our little tussle. I didn't blame them, seeing as how I had won. I was only mildly smug about this.

At lunch time I followed Sora through the line quickly, then we headed outside where the rest of the Organization were sitting just like yesterday. Evidently, this was their declared space. We were greeted by Demyx and Axel. The red-head winked at me and I grinned at him.

"You will not believe what Roxas did." Sora immediately launched into his tale recounting our morning with Seifer's gang.

"That wasn't the best idea." Riku said who had shown up on Sora's other side. I sighed in exasperation.

"Like I told Sora, I'm not gonna just let them walk all over me." I said not understanding why none of them seemed to realize this.

"Did you make them bleed?" Axel asked with a raised eyebrow. Well, maybe one of them agreed with me.

"Don't encourage him Ax." Demyx chastised his friend with a cuff on the back of his head.

"Hey man, I would have done the same thing." Axel retorted and held his fist out for a knuckle pound. I smirked and smacked my fist into his.

"Weren't you telling the squirt just yesterday to be careful?" Luxord asked stepping into the conversation.

"I'm not short." I said at the ever-so-familiar nickname.

Sora nodded furiously in agreement. Luxord patted my head showing off how much taller he was.

"Watch the hair!" I yelped and moved away.

The others chuckled at me.

"Don't be such a girl." Larxene taunted.

She and Xion were wrapped around each other leaning against the tree. I sent her a glare.

"As long as you're aware you've made yourself a prime target." Luxord unknowingly repeated Sora's words from earlier.

"They can do some damage." Zexion agreed quietly.

That shut the others up for a moment. I remembered that I wanted to ask what happened to him, but wasn't sure how to do so tactfully. Of course, Sora knew my thoughts immediately and rectified this.

"Last month Seifer's gang cornered Zexion when he was alone. They um, beat him up kinda badly." he said softly.

"Bruises finally faded just a little while ago." Demyx said, voice uncharacteristically dark and he wrapped an arm around his boyfriend.

Zexion ever-so-slightly leaned into his embrace with his eyes downcast. He seemed very shy on his own, I could only figure being attacked made it all the worse.

"We'll look after the little ones here." Xigbar put in trying to lighten the mood.

"Sure we will." Axel said and stepped close to me.

I was acutely aware of the small space between us and Sora's interested glance.

"At least you haven't run into Rufus's groupies yet." Luxord said offhand.

I felt Axel stiffen next to me. He must have some bad blood with them personally.

"At least we don't have any classes with them." Sora interrupted my thoughts.

"Yeah, that's a good thing I guess." I shrugged.

They already told me that no one did anything in front of the teachers. Detentions really only deterred people so much though.

Marluxia came over and started talking about the party he wanted to throw over the weekend and the topic was dropped. I remained conscious of the fact that throughout the rest of lunch Axel didn't move away from me. I felt a strong desire to close the distance between our hands, but quenched it. I didn't even know the guy really. The attraction I felt for him was beyond what I had experienced in the past. Moving so often left no opportunity for much of a social life, which included dating.

We loitered for the rest of the period after finishing our food. When the bell rang the group slowly trickled back inside to head to individual, or in some cases group classes. Sora and I headed to English, since I no longer had to worry about Math this hour. We passed notes while pretending to take down material from the class. I was an ace at English so I wasn't really worried about paying attention.

_Why does Marluxia want to have a party when no one else but the Org will be there?_ I wrote.

It seemed silly to have a big party when all of them hung out all the time anyway, and everyone else were just assholes.

_There are some people who don't take sides but are friendly enough when they're away from school._ Sora wrote back.

_They aren't brave enough to pick a side?_ That annoyed me.

_Most of them don't really have friends on either side so they don't see a need. A lot of the girls are pretty friendly with us and the gangs know better than to beat up on girls._

I remembered suddenly, Kairi, Olette and Namine seemed embarrassed when the others were talking. I wondered if they fell into that 'mostly neutral' group.

_At least the bastards have some standards._ I might be gay but I still had a bit of a chivalrous streak. I had some pretty wicked protective instincts.

_Seifer's gang will mess with Xion and Larxene if they're by themselves. It only happened once or twice and everyone went nuts getting them back for it. It probably won't happen again._

_Well shit. What's up with the other gang? The seniors? No one seems to want to talk about them much._

I saw Sora wince at that and I knew I hit the nail on the head. I knew Axel at least acted strange whenever someone brought it up. Was it gang wide? What happened before I got here?

The bell ringing saved Sora from having to answer right away. We jogged to gym because he said he wanted to talk to Riku before class started. My twin had never avoided me before and I found it a bit disconcerting. While the others were dressing out (I still hadn't bothered to get clothes yet) I wasted no time beating around the bush.

"What's up with Rufus's gang? Is there something I'm missing?" I directed my question at Cloud since Sora and Riku seemed reluctant.

"Other than the fact that they attack us without provocation? No."

His face and voice were deadpan. This guy was really hard to read. I gave him a searching look before giving up trying to tell whether he was lying or not. I'd figure it out eventually.

We were herded into gym class and had the same repeat of yesterday. I was able to focus a bit more on the actual activity this time around so I did better. I felt a vindictive pleasure in serving the ball while aiming to hit Pence on the other team with it. I figured I gave him some exercise either way.

After school I asked Sora if we were going to Xemnas's house again.

"Hmm. . . what?" he asked distractedly. He and Riku were giggling, well Sora was giggling while Riku just had a small smile on his face, together about something very couple-y that I didn't want to know about.

"I asked if-" I started to repeat myself when a body slammed into mine and I had to catch myself on my hands to spare my face meeting the concrete.

"Shit!" I exclaimed glaring up at the offending body.

It was Hayner. Surprisingly, he was alone. I assumed if he got the guts to take me on again he would have been surrounded by his goons. He gave me a nasty glare. Sora and Riku were looking back and forth between us, my brother concerned while Riku looked ready to jump in any second. I returned the other blond's look and picked myself up off the pavement.

"Something you wanted to say?" I asked sarcastically.

Out of my peripheral view I saw about half the Organization had come up around us but I didn't see anyone else stopping to watch. I had the thought that this may happen so often it had lost it's entertainment value to the rest of the school's population.

"I want a rematch you son of a bitch." Hayner said arrogantly. Never-the-less he glanced around warily at my new friends.

"Because you put on such a good show this morning." I retorted dusting the gravel off my hands and balling them into fists.

"Roxas." Sora called my attention to him. _Do you want to fight him? _He asked me silently.

I nodded ever so slightly at my twin. He sighed and whispered to Riku, I assumed relaying stay out of it. The others looked like they would only interfere if I needed them to, which I didn't.

"You aren't going to let any of your bitches fight for you? Aren't you the _girl_?" Hayner taunted me.

I heard a few hisses out of those around me. I didn't see Axel's flame anywhere, I had kinda hoped he'd be here to watch me kick the shit out of this idiot.

"Are we going to fight or are you going to name call like a fifth grader?" I shot back.

Without a word Hayner threw himself towards me with his fists raised. I rolled to the side and swept my leg out, tripping him forwards but he managed to keep his balance. He spun around and came at me again. I think I just figured out how to beat this guy. Get him angry enough and he just starts swinging, with no thought to aim or strategy.

"Come on you fairy can't you even punch?" he cried as he tried to hit me in the jaw.

I danced back a step then lunged and slammed both my fists into his shoulders knocking him back.

"Man I've been here two days and I'm already sick of you." I told him getting pissed off at his derogatory comments.

Hayner responded by running forwards and trying to slide into me but quick reflexes had me jumping over his feet and I placed a square kick in his back. My kick had him doing an awkward forward roll and I heard something pop, that sounded painful.

"Fuck!" Hayner cursed and stumbled to his feet clutching his elbow.

I smirked at him and readied my stance. Instead of attacking again, Hayner sneered at me and flipped me the bird. Wordlessly, Luxord and Xigbar moved out of the way as he stormed his way out of the loose circle of teens. I kept my smirk in place while they congratulated me.

"I had no idea you could fight like that, kid." Xigbar said cheerfully.

"No wonder you weren't worried!" Marluxia laughed.

"Had some experience fighting?" There was my brother sounding upset.

"I didn't get hurt." I pointed out.

Sora rolled his eyes, looking more sarcastic than I'd seen from him yet.

"_Obviously_, Roxas. How many fights did you get into to get so good huh?" he asked and poked my arm.

Luxord grabbing me in a headlock distracted me from answering properly.

"This one is a front-runner for sure!" he shouted.

I tried to finagle my way out of his hold but the taller blond was quite strong. I simply gave up and let them get it out of their systems. I didn't think it was a big deal personally, it's not like Hayner was that tough to begin with.

"Can we _please_ get out of here already? I don't want to be around school anymore than I have to." Larxene started bitching at the group.

Luxord released me and ruffled my hair. I gave him a mock punch in the arm for it. Sora still looked miffed, but he let me grab his hand and pull him to the car anyway. Riku seemed resigned to be our permanent chauffeur at this point. Sora tried to interrogate me as soon as we were in the car but I asked if Riku could turn up the radio, pretending to like the song that was playing. I knew my brother could see through my bluff of course, yet he seemed to give up for the moment.

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I dunno if anyone is reading this but here's another chapter (obviously)


	5. Chapter 5

Since you guys were nice enough to review I thought I would reward you with this, it's a little shorter but I found it to be a good place to break off. I have to say to _dearlybelovedangel_ that I either like my Sora/Roxas to be twins, in a relationship or both *dirty smirk*. But no my twincest story is a different one from this haha.

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When we got to Xemnas's house the group that had been there for the fight had already informed the rest of the house. The general consensus was that I was a bad-ass. I wasn't about to argue the point. I'm not going to lie and say it didn't please me to manage to keep my reputation in tact. I couldn't help but glance around trying to find Axel in the mob by the front door. I caught a flash of bright red over Zexion's shoulder and easily slipped by the others. Axel was lounging on one of the sofa's with his ready-made smirk for me.

"I hear talk of a certain new guy kicking some deserving douche bag's ass. Know anything about that?" his voice was airy as he raised both eyebrows at me.

I feigned innocence as I sat next to him on the couch, closer than I would have to any of the others besides Sora.

"You'd have to be more specific, there are a lot of douche bags running around this place." I said matter-of-fact. His lip twitched and I found myself wondering why he had decided to get a ring through it.

"You're making your brother look over-protective for no reason, if you can fight like that." he said with underlying respect.

I felt a warm sensation rush through me at his words.

"Guy has to know how to take care of himself doesn't he?" I muttered and tried to hide my uncharacteristic blush.

Axel gave me a genuine smile, nothing teasing about it.

"Around here at least." he answered.

A silence settled over us but it wasn't uncomfortable, the rest of the Organization were spread around talking and it was a pleasant background noise. I couldn't help but wonder more about him. I knew literally next to nothing about the older boy next to me, yet I was inexplicably drawn to him.

"Why did you get teardrops tattooed on your face?" I blurted out suddenly.

I had wondered about them since I met him, it seemed pretty extreme and I really wanted to know the reason. Axel's expression was a bit rueful.

"Not for any cool reason really." he chuckled halfheartedly and I decided not to push, what was with everyone being reluctant about telling me things?

"Oh. Um, how long have you known everyone?" I asked trying to think of a different subject and get us back to the comfort level of before.

Axel seemed to agree because with a grin he immediately launched into a long story about all of the group. He informed me that most of them had lived here since grade school but hadn't interacted too much. Demyx had been his best friend since their second grade year and they were like brothers. Once they hit junior high they started hanging out with Zexion and Riku. They all came out to each other freshman year and it snowballed from there. With the school being so close-minded they naturally stayed together in groups of friends and met Xigbar and Luxord that year. Once they had all met each other they loosely formed a gang which they later named, the Organization.

"So, is Xemnas the actual leader or what?" I asked, a little confused.

Axel had said they only met up with him and Saix last year.

"There really isn't a leader per say. I mean we don't sell drugs or spray paint government buildings or anything, like real 'gang' stuff. He's just kind of the unofficial face of the Organization I guess. His parents have the most influence and he's one of the few no one really messes with." Axel explained reclining back and throwing his feet onto the coffee table.

"Oh. That makes sense I guess."

I loved listening to him talk, Axel's voice was smooth and sexy. I wanted to do more than just talk with him. As casually as I could, I shifted my weight to my left and our knees brushed together. I flicked my eyes up to his to see his reaction. Axel's lips twitched into a smile but he didn't make any other acknowledgment of our contact.

"So, I have to ask Roxy." My gaze narrowed at the nickname but he continued undeterred. "Out of this large group of homosexuals, have you found anyone you have your eye on?" He made a sweeping gesture with his right hand.

My thoughts derailed completely. I hadn't quite expected him to be bold enough to try and make me tell him first. Then I realized, with an evil laugh to myself, two could play this game. I smiled coyly at him.

"I don't know. . . there are a lot of hot guys in this group." I said neutrally and took an obvious look around the room.

I had the satisfaction of watching the red-head next to me stiffen, and glance around the room seemingly trying to find out his competition.

"Anyone in particular?" he urged.

I could tell he was trying to be as normal sounding as I was. I was rather flattered that he was clearly trying to hide the fact that he didn't want me checking out anyone else. I decided to see if he was as smart as I hoped he was.

"As a matter of fact." I said and looked him dead in the eye. It only took him a moment to understand, and a slow sexy smile spread over his face.

"Well what a coincidence? Here I was getting tired of being single." Axel said playing along.

His right arm which had been resting on the back of the couch, suddenly reached out and I felt his fingers gently trace my jaw.

"I'd say that sounds like a proposition." My voice was barely over a whisper.

His skin was smooth and warm where it touched me. Intense green eyes sparkled playfully.

"It is most definitely a proposition. If you were to agree to the deal, we could go ahead and make it official."

I felt myself leaning forwards and stopped only inches away from him. He was still looking at me in question, affection and something else I couldn't quite name in his eyes.

"Okay. Boyfriends it is then." I said as firmly as I could manage, given the low quality of my voice and erratic heart rate.

"Deal."

His breath whispered over my lips for a moment before he closed the distance between us. I was only able to enjoy his lips on mine for moments before loud voices had us shooting apart.

"Woo! Would you look at that!"

"Get a room lovebirds!"

"Way to go Ax!"

I felt a blush rise up and avoided eye contact with the older boy next to me. Axel chuckled a bit and gave the whole room the finger.

"Piss off you guys."

There were uproars of laughter and I muttered to myself embarrassed. I really wasn't one much for PDA, and somehow had managed to forget I was in a room full of people. I blamed a sexy red-head.

"Jeez, Roxas. I knew you liked him but I didn't figure you guys would make moves so quickly." Sora teased dropping into the seat next to me.

"Shut up." I mumbled, intensely interested in the black streak on the side of my shoe.

"He said he'd go out with me."

I could hear the smugness in Axel's voice. I felt his hand twine with mine suddenly and my flush increased, but I didn't pull away.

"That's great! Just know you will have to share him."

Sora's tone was joking but I knew he was utterly serious. I used my free hand to squeeze his in assurance.

"I know the two of you would have to be surgically removed from each other, don't worry." Axel said with an eye roll.

"We can just go on a lot of double-dates then." Sora said happily.

Axel and I glanced at each other with a grimace. Seemed neither of us was too fond of that idea.

"Or, we can just split our time up evenly. Axel and I can hang out for a few hours after school, then I come over to your place for dinner until I have to go back home or whatever." I offered. Sora looked heartbroken.

"You mean you aren't gonna sleep over?" he asked sounding hurt.

"Of course I am Sora! Don't worry, I'll probably be mostly living with you guys. I just have to make an appearance every once in a while at my house." I was quick to reassure him.

"I take it you don't like your foster parents?" Axel broke in to our twin world.

I turned back to him shrugging, "Not really."

"We can always go to my house if you don't want to stay here all the time with everyone." he suggested and ran his thumb over the back of my hand. I was becoming increasingly distracted.

"As long as I still get you more than him." Sora said stubbornly but his eyes were pleading.

I reluctantly released Axel's hand, I didn't want to hurt his feelings but my brother was more important. I pulled Sora into a fierce hug.

"It's okay, I'm not leaving you. We're gonna spend so much time together it'll be ridiculous. Don't worry." I said softly in his ear.

I didn't want to spend any more time away from him than he did from me. However, he was dating Riku and would invariably still go out with him without me so this was me having someone as well while he was away. I hoped Axel didn't mind, Sora would always come first though. I had the sense he pretty much knew already. I slowly pulled back from Sora, watching his face as I wanted to make sure he understood. Big blue eyes blinked and he nodded his acceptance.

"Easy kiddo, I'm not trying to pull you guys apart." Axel said to Sora but his eyes were on me, questioning.

"It'll all be fine." I said to both of them.

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The next few days followed the same pattern as the previous, until suddenly it was the glorious weekend. I didn't even bother going home on Friday, I had packed my duffel bag with everything I would need over the weekend and went straight to Sora's house. The party Marluxia had put together was Saturday night so we stayed up until the wee hours of the morning playing video games and eating junk food. Sora didn't have an air mattress but his bed was a double so I simply shared with him. We had always shared a bed at the orphanage so it was like falling back into an old routine.

We ended up sleeping in until early afternoon on Saturday. Akemi volunteered downtown and Daisuke worked six days a week so we had the house to ourselves. Sora bullied me into telling him more about my ex-foster parents and the fights I got into. When I say 'bullied' in connection with Sora it basically meant he pouted and guilt tripped until I gave in. He could patten his puppy dog eyes and make a living off of it. He wasn't very happy once he understood how much trouble I used to get into.

"I just never cared that much." I defended while he brooded at me.

"I would say all that crap can be done with now but...at least you know how to fight. That'll probably be helpful to you at this school." He muttered and ran his hands through his spiky hair.

"How about we agree not to talk about school for this weekend?" I suggested.

I hated seeing Sora upset or worried, two things that talking about the situation at school always seemed to bring out in him.

"Okay." He said and his expression softened.

"Do we have to go to this party?"

I changed the subject and flopped back on the bed. We hadn't progressed to going downstairs yet, lazy teenagers that we were.

"It's kind of a tradition? I dunno, Marluxia will be really upset if we don't show. If you think I can guilt trip, man he's got it down to an art form." Sora said shrugging.

Was that respect I heard in his voice? I didn't want to think about the powers that would bring that out in him.

"Ugh, I'm still not a social butterfly you know." I groaned at him and flung my arm over my eyes. The light spilling in from the open window was too bright.

"It'll be fun! Some of the guys get pretty crazy when they're drunk, and Luxord always has a gambling table and-" Sora started rambling about all the 'cool' things at the party.

I was a little amazed that he had scolded me for smoking the other day when he was constantly going to parties and drinking underage. Little hypocrite. I smirked at him and he lost his train of thought.

"What?" He asked suspiciously.

"I'm just thinking about how funny it'll be to see you drunk." I said mischievously. He looked scandalized.

"I don't drink Roxas!" He yelped then looked around quickly to make sure we were still home alone.

I chuckled at him.

"You are such a goody goody." I said sitting up.

Sora pouted at me again.

"Am not. I just like watching everyone else drink." He shoved my shoulder lightly. I nudged him back and said,

"Mhmm sure."

Sora acted like he was going to retaliate again when he paused and titled his head thoughtfully.

"What?" I asked caught off guard.

"You seem different already. Three days ago, I could tell you weren't happy. You had this aura around you Rox, like a dark cloud. That was why I didn't want to let you go, I was afraid it would make it worse. That's almost all gone now. I'm glad."

Sora was more perceptive than most people realized. I tried to shrug it off casually but he kept gazing at me with those bright blue eyes that were so knowing.

"I wasn't happy." I admitted.

"Now that you have me again you are though?"

Sora had the ability to say crap like that and it didn't sound sappy. I felt a smile lingering around my lips and let it show. I simply nodded at him.

"Good." He said with a bright smile, "I am too."

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Yay relationship developments! Next chapter is the party.


	6. Chapter 6

Well crap now this is really long...enjoy

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After that things lightened up again and we fooled around on his computer for a while. In the last six years Sora had taken a liking to drawing and sketching so he showed me some of his work. I was impressed at his skill. He said he'd have to start making some of me because he liked drawing portraits. I only grudgingly accepted.

Soon enough it was time to start getting ready for the party.

"What are you wearing?" Sora asked me after he returned from his shower with a towel wound tight around his hips.

I raised an eyebrow at him and gestured to the clothes I had on. I had changed into my black pants with some chain belts down the sides and my black Breaking Benjamin t-shirt, complete with my wrist-band and eyeliner. Sora however scoffed at me.

"You can't wear that to a party Roxas." He moved in front of his closet to start rifling through his clothes.

"Why the hell not?" I said indignantly.

"Don't you want to look hot for Axel?" He asked over his shoulder.

"Uh, Sora in case you didn't notice his sense of style is pretty close to mine. I'm pretty sure he'll find this hot." I gestured to my outfit.

It felt only slightly awkward to be having this conversation. My brother finally selected his own clothes and I spun around so he could change. I turned back at his okay and surveyed his own choice of wardrobe. Dark skinny jeans and a form fitting blue button up with a heavy belt. I sighed and face palmed.

"Not you too." I mumbled into my hand.

It was Sora's turn to shout indignantly.

"What!" He looked himself over critically.

"Skinny jeans? Really Sora?" I asked and looked at him again.

To my glee he blushed.

"Riku likes them." He muttered and glanced away.

"I knew it."

I laughed at him and dodged the brush he flung at me. Even though I teased him for it, I had to agree with Riku that it did make my twin look good. I was curious to see if they would work for me as well. I wasn't sure I wanted to give up my comfortable baggy pants though.

It didn't take us too much longer to get ready and then Riku was there to pick us up. It seemed Saix's house had the best space for a dance floor so that was were Marluxia had planned the party. I hadn't been here before so I stuck close to Sora and Riku as they led the way. There was a surprising turn out for a 'gay party' as I thought of it. There were a lot of students I didn't know that weren't in the Organization. Of course, the list of bullies was markedly absent.

"Hey baby." I heard and suddenly Axel was there with his arm around me.

I glared up at him.

"No pet names."

"Aw, come on Roxy." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Seriously Axel, you are not allowed." I ordered.

The red-head frowned at me then shrugged.

"That's what you say now stoned sober. I'll ask again when you're halfway through a bottle of whiskey." He grinned.

Sora whipped around.

"We are _not_ drinking." He reminded my boyfriend.

"Says you." Axel replied smirking.

Sora's eyes narrowed and he took a step forward. Riku grabbed his arm and tugged the brunette back to his side.

"I'm sure Axel will watch out for Roxas." He said soothingly.

My eyes told my brother that I agreed. I didn't fancy getting wasted around a bunch of people I didn't know or trust, especially not knowing if they were harboring evil thoughts towards gays. Sora subsided at my look and let Riku lead him off towards the kitchen. Axel turned me to face him grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

"What do you want to do first?"

I took the opportunity to give him a once-over, I enjoyed the way his tight black shirt clung to his chest and the multitude of belts on his equally black pants showed off his slim hips. Axel caught my look and winked.

"What is there to do?" I asked mildly.

I had told them I didn't enjoy parties, so I wasn't going to make an effort here. He didn't bat an eyelash at my unenthusiastic response. Axel grabbed my hand and I grudgingly allowed myself to be pulled through several rooms, where I saw most of the other Organization members scattered, to the den where Luxord had a card game going.

"Know how to play poker Roxas?" He asked playfully.

I took a wary glance at the participants and took instant notice that two of the boys were missing shirts, while one girl was only wearing tights on the bottom. I dug my heels into the plush carpet.

"Nice try Axel, I am not playing strip poker with you." I said firmly.

"C'mon kid live a little!" Luxord encouraged as he set down his hand on the table drawing groans from the other players. The older blond didn't seem drunk but I spotted a glass of what looked like hard alcohol next to him nearly empty.

"No thanks." I retorted.

Axel turned to stare down at me with a little pout on his lips.

"Are you really not going to have any fun?" He asked.

I could tell he was trying to make me feel guilty, it was working a little bit but I wasn't going to admit it. I frowned at him but his thumb caressing the back of my hand made it difficult. I sighed.

"I'll try to have a little fun," I conceded and his face lit up. "But! I'm still not playing poker." I was quick to add.

Axel waved me off.

"It's cool, there's other things to do."

We headed towards the kitchen for some drinks where I made sure he gave me soda instead of beer, though he grabbed a rum and coke for himself. I was a little curious to see how he would act drunk since he was normally pretty laid back if not a little hyper sometimes. I spotted Demyx and Zexion through the crowd and waved. Demyx immediately headed over keeping hold of his shorter boyfriend.

"Hey guys! Marly sure knows how to throw them huh?" Demyx said happily.

Zexion looked about as bored as I felt but I nodded along with the other blond all the same. I didn't get this teenage need to drink and act like idiots together in one big group of people. Sometimes I wondered if I didn't have some wires crossed in my head.

"Did you know that Vincent showed up?" Demyx said as if this was news.

I hadn't heard of this Vincent guy but Axel's eyes widened and Zexion gave a slight nod of agreement.

"Is he in one of the gangs or something?" I asked for clarification.

Axel squeezed my shoulder as he shook his head no.

"No, but he has some serious influence in the populous. Up until now he's been on the neutral ground. I've never heard of him coming to anyone's party, ours or the other gangs' but if he's showing up here..." Demyx trailed off leaving the sentence hanging.

It was obvious that this guy could be pretty helpful for the 'war' as everyone was calling it. I gave them a halfhearted smile.

"That's good then." I said not knowing how else I was supposed to respond.

"Very." Zexion muttered.

"Maybe we should hunt him down? Grease the wheels a little?" Demyx suggested and bounced on his toes excitedly.

"That might not be the best idea Dem. We don't want to scare him off."

Axel laughed but I thought it was a rather safe bet to keep Demyx from overwhelming the guy. The other blond could be a bit much to handle sometimes. Zexion subtly gave Axel a slight smile of thanks.

"I want to go find where Sora and Riku ran off to." I announced growing bored of just standing here.

"I think they went to play pool downstairs. We'll show you." The silver-haired boy said.

Zexion had rarely spoken in my presence before this, I was surprised that he would be more vocal in this kind of setting. Then I figured that Demyx probably needed a little guidance, I saw him start to wander off towards Larxene and Xion as we were following them. Zexion kept a firm hand in the blond's elbow and steered us towards the staircase instead.

Sora and Riku were at a table playing against Cloud and Leon. Sora was chatting animatedly about something to the older brunette while Cloud seemed to be picking off his shots consecutively.

"Do you play competitively or something?" I asked in slight awe of his skill.

Riku grimaced as Cloud sunk the fourteen in a side pocket and took aim at the black eight ball. I counted six balls left on Riku and Sora's team. Cloud pointed at the corner pocket wordlessly and made the shot with ease. Riku groaned while Sora and Leon seemed oblivious.

"I have a table in my basement." Cloud said quietly answering my question.

"Lucky." I mused.

Axel chuckled and went to grab a few sticks for us to start our own game. Saix had three tables set up and one was empty while the other had three very familiar girls around it.

"Roxas?"

I turned at my name and couldn't help my frown as I saw Kairi looking at me shyly.

"What?" I asked, my voice sharp.

The others around us paused in their actions. Sora was biting his lip nervously, he hated conflict between anyone.

"Can I um, talk to you for a minute?" Kairi asked softly.

Olette and Namine were standing behind her looking apologetic. The red-headed girl glanced at Axel briefly before locking eyes on me again. I didn't really want to have to deal with her, but I couldn't help remembering when Hayner and the others were spouting hate, the three girls in front of me had clearly been uncomfortable. I sighed and motioned with my head for her to follow me. Axel brushed his fingers down my arm as I moved away and I flicked him a small smile.

Kairi followed me down the hall a little ways into the laundry room and I hopped up to sit on top of the dryer. Everyone always treated all of the Organization member's houses like they were their own so I didn't even think about it.

Kairi stood uneasily shifting her weight back and forth and one arm had come up to clutch at her elbow unconsciously.

"I'm not going to bite you." I said dryly.

The girl tensed then seemed to shake herself out of it.

"I just wanted to say how sorry we are. Olette, Namine and I. I swear I didn't know you were gay and I...I know how awful it is to listen to those things. Hayner is so stupid sometimes." She spoke very quietly but her voice was sincere.

"You think he's stupid but you're friends with him anyway? Even though he's in one of the gangs that attacks my brother?" I was dubious about this.

Kairi's head shot up and she looked at me wide-eyed.

"Hayner's in one of the gangs?" she asked.

I looked at her incredulously. Was she lying? How could she not be aware? She was supposedly the jerk's friend for fuck's sake.

"Did you not hear about him and Seifer taunting me and Sora? Or about when I kicked his ass the other day?" My eyebrows rose.

"No wha-? He doesn't beat up other kids!" Now she sounded indignant.

Great, of course she doesn't believe me.

"Whatever." I huffed and hopped down. I made to walk past her but she grabbed my sleeve. I yanked away from her and glared. She held her hands up looking slightly afraid.

"Sorry! I just, you really are serious?" Kairi said quickly.

I just gave her a look.

"O-okay well I didn't know that. Um, that's really crappy of him. I just. . .didn't want to you think that we are like that. I don't think there's anything wrong with you." She looked down at her feet.

I exhaled sharply and shook my head.

"That's great that you don't think we're lesser beings. Good for you. Want my advice? Get some knew friends." I said gruffly and left her standing there looking lost.

I quickly joined my group back at the pool tables and Sora gave me a small smile. I guess it made him happy that I tried to work things out with her. I just didn't see the point of talking to someone who clearly wanted to fit in so badly they'd brush everything under the rug like it didn't matter. Axel grinned at me and there was a hint of concern in his eyes. I shrugged at him and stole his pool stick.

"What kind are we?" I asked calmly before anyone could comment on my unheard conversation.

"We're winning." My boyfriend grinned at me.

We all pretended not to notice Kairi coming back from the laundry room with glassy eyes and the three girls quickly taking their leave. I took my turn without guilt.

Several rounds of classic pool later I was growing bored of winning against Demyx and Zexion. Axel was almost as pro as Cloud was and I had some decent skill, which obviously was more than enough to beat Demyx and Zexion's deplorable skills. I found myself laughing though when Demyx fell to the floor in defeat after Axel had correctly called out and sunk the eight ball.

"Okay guys lets find something else to do." I suggested as Zexion made a show of dragging his taller lover to his feet.

"There's good music playing upstairs, we could go dance!" Sora suggested coming over to our table and leaning on the edge.

"Because that is always so fun." Leon said and his voice was so deadpan I could tell Demyx at least had missed the sarcasm.

I smirked at the brunette in appreciation. Cloud's lip twitched and he hooked two fingers through Leon's hand loosely. They shared a glance that only couples who had been together for a long time could interpret.

"I think we'll leave you guys to it." Cloud said in his quiet voice.

Axel laughed while Sora blushed prettily and the two seniors disappeared upstairs.

"Wonder what those two will be up to?" Demyx sing songed and my brother shook his head in mortification.

"I'll dance with you Sora." Riku said wrapping an arm around his waist.

Sora looked glad for the interruption from Axel and Demyx making all sorts of lewd suggestions for what Cloud and Leon could possibly be 'getting up' to, pun intended. I waved at them as they headed off as well.

"Okay so what are we going to do? Go and mingle?" I asked the other three.

"We could always just stay down here and make-out." Axel offered his input.

I tossed my head at him and refused to dignify that with an answer. As pleasing an idea as that actually was, if I had to be drug here to 'socialize' I was at least going to make sure I actually met some other people. Sora would get me back for it later if I just hid out with Axel all night.

"Let's see if we can find Rikku and Paine." Zexion said.

"Oh yeah! You haven't met them yet Roxas." Demyx said with a wide smile.

The other couple took off and I had no choice but to follow Axel's hand in mine. The red-head expertly weaved us through the crowded living room before he stopped suddenly and I walked into his back before I could stop myself. It was oddly arousing how firm a wall his body made and I took a quick step back out of reflex.

I peered around his shoulder and saw to some amusement an unknown girl with her arm around Zexion's shoulder protectively while Demyx was quickly explaining his innocent intentions.

"We were just looking for you honest!" The blond raised his hands in defense.

"I saw you leading my brother upstairs earlier, don't think I'm a fool." The silver-haired girl retorted, her voice cold.

She was clad in black leather and had multiple piercings in her ears and one in her eyebrow. Her silver hair was shaded more towards slate than the blue tint that Zexion had. It was cut up short in a pixie style but only seemed to add to her slightly intimidating appearance. I didn't blame Demyx for the step backwards he took away from her red eyed glare.

"It's okay Paine, I wanted to introduce you to Roxas." Zexion said quietly and looked over at me.

"Who's Roxas?" A blond girl with lots of braids and not many clothes on asked, she had been standing behind Demyx trying to look fearsome.

"My new boyfriend." Axel said proudly and pulled me around to stand next to him.

"Isn't he adorable!" The blond exclaimed with a squeal.

"Um, you must be Rikku?" I said blankly.

She giggled and stepped forward to shake my hand several times wearing a large grin. Zexion had wiggled his way away from Paine and was holding hands with Demyx again, looking embarrassed at the attention. No one seemed to be paying us any mind at the moment though.

"This annoying little ball of hyper is indeed Rikku, that's two k's mind you and this of course is poor Zexion's evil twin sister from hell." Axel cleverly dodged the punch Paine threw his way.

"I didn't know you had a twin as well." I said stepping quickly out of the line of fire.

Zexion gave me a rueful look and motioned me closer. Rikku wrapped an arm around my shoulder and drew me against her with Demyx and Zexion. Paine was growling at Axel something about "I'll show you hell-spawn".

"I don't advertise it because I don't want Seifer or Rufus going after her because she's my sister." Zexion said simply.

Rikku and Demyx scoffed at this. I pulled weakly against the girl next to me but Rikku didn't seem to want to let go of me.

"You know that Paine would kick any of their asses if they tried. Besides, you know she doesn't get involved with the gang related stuff." Rikku flipped her braids in gesture and almost hit me in the face with them. "Well, apart from kicking Tidus's ass for jumping you last month." She added thoughtfully.

I started when a firm hand landed on my shoulder and Rikku released me instantly. I turned to stare at Paine a bit uneasily while she looked at me steadily. She wasn't glaring but if a stare could be monotone hers was.

"So, you're friends with my brother?" she asked coolly.

I could see Axel over her shoulder giving me a thumbs up with a wince on his face. I wondered where she had hit him. I swallowed and nodded at the senior girl. My own rule about not hitting girls notwithstanding I would not want to piss this chick off.

"Uh, yeah I guess so." I answered truthfully.

I hadn't really known anyone here for very long yet, besides Sora of course, so I couldn't really say I was close to them. I liked Zexion well enough for being painfully shy as he was. She rose a silver brow and pressed on her fingers into my shoulder harder than the situation warranted. I didn't let my face react to the action and she gave me a slight nod before stepping away completely. Paine didn't say anything else but gave Demyx one last glare then smoothly lost herself in the crowd.

"Paine wait!" Rikku cried and hurried after her friend.

"Sorry about that." Zexion said his voice slightly sheepish.

"It's fine." I said feeling a bit bewildered.

"You did fine Shorty. Paine doesn't like anyone but at least she didn't hit you, that means you're okay in her books." Axel said and slung his arm around my shoulders again.

I was really starting to feel like a resting post for all the tall people I knew. I shifted so his arm fell around my waist instead.

"Does she usually hit you?" I asked him cheekily.

"All the time." He laughed and squeezed my hip.

"She only stays neutral because if she chose to pick a side she'd probably get expelled for putting so many people in the hospital. Paine is fiercely protective of Zexy." Demyx explained with a chuckle.

"I can see that." I said seriously.

"Yeah Paine only beats people up when they mess with Zexion here. She doesn't care about the rest of us poor boy loving folk." Axel whined dramatically.

"Poor thing." I said sarcastically.

"Hey! There's Vincent!" Demyx suddenly pointed behind us.

Curious, I turned to see a very tall, dark and admittedly handsome teenager in a long red cloak with his arm around an equally dark and alluring girl with long black braids. He was wearing mostly black leather (was this a trend I hadn't known about?) and had long straight black hair that hung partially in his face. The girl he was with had on a heavy looking dress made of all belts on the bottom front and was form fitted on top. They looked like a powerful couple and I could tell the few people they were talking with were aware of it.

"Who's his girlfriend?" I asked.

I didn't remember seeing either of these two at school all week. Of course, Hollow Bastion was a fairly large school but I think they would have stood out.

"That's Lulu. She's in my art class, she has some wicked talent too. Isn't she your cousin Zexion?" Axel added to our friend.

"Yes. I don't talk to her very often." Was his cryptic reply.

Extra curious now I turned back to stare a bit more at Vincent. He certainly didn't seem the type to be a top runner of the school, he actually looked like he might kick your ass as soon as look at you. I was glad he wasn't part of the gangs, dude could probably give me a good run for my money. Vincent glanced over at our group and made eye contact with me. I blinked but didn't glance away, not wanting to show weakness to this guy. Were his eyes seriously red? I blinked again and his gaze cut away to rest on his girlfriend.

"Well, at least he knows we're here." Demyx mumbled.

"Why is he important again?" I asked Axel.

"He's-"

Axel didn't get time to say more because someone had suddenly blasted the stereo from the other room playing a popular techno song. There were cheers from some of the people around us and everyone in the vicinity moved to start dancing. I quickly backed away from the throng and Axel followed me bobbing his head to the heavy bass. Demyx threw himself into the beat and Zexion seemed resigned to stay with him.

"I don't dance." I told Axel when he tried to get me to move with him.

"Why not?" He asked. He had to lean down right next to my ear so I could hear him.

"I don't like to." I said stubbornly and pulled away from his hands trying to sway my hips for me.

"Maybe you just haven't had a good partner?" He cajoled and pulled me flush against him.

I felt my face burn at our closeness but everyone was too busy dancing to pay us any mind. I hadn't been quite this close to Axel before and I found myself liking it. Still refusing to give in to his movements Axel abandoned trying to get me to dance and instead just held me close. I tilted my head up and he easily bent down to press his lips to mine. If no one was watching us I could kiss him at least, plus this way if Sora asked I was technically socializing with everyone around us.

Axel's tongue swept the seam of my lips and I allowed him to change it to an open mouthed kiss. One of his hands slid around my waist to keep me tight against his body while the other one drifted up to rest at the base of my neck and lightly tickle my skin. I shivered against him and buried one of my own hands in the thick strands of his hair, being careful not to upset the carefully gelled spikes, and wrapped the other one in the belts on his hips. Axel deepened the kiss and I couldn't help the small moan I made into his mouth. I could feel him trying to smile and sucked on his tongue to keep him from being too triumphant. That earned me my own moan from him.

"Oi! Get a room!" Xigbar was yelling next to us but we ignored him.

Axel's nimble fingers found the him of my shirt and he slipped his hand under to trace up my back skin to skin. My skin tingled from the warmth and I unconsciously pressed closer to him. Axel hummed appreciatively and broke the kiss to nuzzle my neck.

"Are you done trying to eat my brother!" Sora's voice called to us over the music and he appeared at my shoulder with Riku behind him.

"Not even close." Was Axel's husky response.

I felt my cheeks pink and pulled away to look at Sora a bit embarrassed. My twin smiled and brought a hand up to tap my nose.

"Well we're ready to head home." Sora said and looked at me expectantly.

"You have horrible timing." Axel said for the both of us.

"Or perfect timing." Sora responded and gave my boyfriend a light glare.

"Easy Sora. We can go." I said hurriedly not wanting him to start getting protective again.

Axel looked put out and I rose up on my toes to give him another quick kiss.

"See you Monday." I breathed against his lips.

"Fucking tease." He muttered and caught my lips one last time, hard.

I smirked at him and made sure to sway my hips as I followed Sora and Riku out of the house.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Don't get my wrong I'm actually rather fond of Kairi and I'm trying to keep clear of making her an uber bitch because it annoys me when other people do, she just fit for that character.


	7. Chapter 7

Over the next few weeks I established a new routine. Some nights I would stay with Yumi and Takoshi if they were having a dinner or something fancy planned with business partners. For the most part though, I slept over at Sora's. His closet was nearly half full of my clothes and I had a whole set of bathroom supplies so I could literally not have to go home for days. I shared all my classes with my brother so we had the time when we weren't paying attention to the teacher, to talk or share notes. I had dinner at Sora's house and then we'd stay up late playing video games or going skateboarding (I had used my outrageous allowance to buy him his own) or whatever else we felt like.

For the few hours after school and different times over the weekends, Sora was with Riku while I was with Axel. I had gotten to know him much better in three weeks and the more I learned about him the more I liked. We had a lot more in common than I realized, from our taste in music (metal and rock) to style (lots of black and converse) to tattoos (there were quite a few I planned to get). He was also an excellent kisser. Already there were a few times when it was a good thing we were interrupted, usually because either Sora or Demyx was calling us, because we found it hard to stop once our hormones got going.

I knew that Sora and Riku hadn't had sex yet, he had confessed it to me recently. He was more innocent than your average teenage guy I suppose. They had been dating for nearly a year and hadn't fucked yet? Yeah, I didn't see me and Axel holding out near as long. I couldn't help but find my new boyfriend almost unbearably sexy.

"Got a question."

Axel snapped me out of my thoughts, coming up and putting his arm around my shoulder. I was waiting in line for lunch, chatting with Sora. I looked up at him curiously.

"What?" I asked and went to move down the line, Axel sticking to my side like glue.

He knew I didn't care much for PDA and instead of going along with me, he insisted I just wasn't used to it enough and made a point of constantly touching me while in public. He was lucky he was hot sometimes.

"I was wondering if you wanted to spend the weekend at my place?" he asked.

His parents were pretty much like every other rich couple around here, hardly ever home. It was convenient really.

"What?" Sora and I asked together.

My voice was surprised while my twin's was rather upset. Axel held both hands out.

"I'm not saying I'm going to deflower Roxas or anything!" He said to Sora quickly.

I scowled at him.

"You call it 'deflowering' again and you definitely won't." I snapped.

He grinned at me and waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"What if I called it something else then? Would I get to-"

"No!" Sora yelped, causing those who weren't already paying attention to Axel's arm around me, to snap around at the sound.

"We are _not_ talking about this here." I growled and fled the two of them to our usual spot on the quad.

They both followed me, Sora looking pissed while Axel looked amused.

"Hey what's got your panties in a twist?" Marluxia asked as I stalked past him to sit at the foot of the tree.

"Nothing." I snapped.

"Just ignore Roxy. He got all flustered because I was talking about us having sex in the lunch line."

Axel had no modesty as he said this to all of our friends casually. There were several snickers from the group.

"Screw you guys." I hissed.

Sora dropped down next to me equally miffed. Though I knew it was because he was being protective again I appreciated it all the same. We wound our hands together and glared at the gang in black cloaks having a laugh at my expense.

"I'm sensing someone is a virgin, hmm?" Saix said with a wicked smirk.

I was really not in the mood for this today. They seemed to forget sometimes that I wasn't as happy go lucky as Sora and wouldn't just let everything roll off me. I was making a list of names as they spoke.

"You wouldn't really have sex with him already, would you?" Sora's voice was so quiet I knew no one else could hear him.

_Of course not._ I looked at him.

His shoulders dropped as he blew out a breath of relief. Not that I didn't want to eventually, but I wasn't about to tell him that. I did have some standards however. I was not about to earn the title of 'slut' at this school. One overheard conversation by this evil population would be all it took for the bullies to come at me with new taunts and threats.

Oddly enough, since that second day of school Seifer's gang hadn't bothered me or Sora at all. This wouldn't have caused me to worry except everyone else was treating it as unusual. I just figured they had learned their lesson from our scuffles. I still had yet to come face to face with anyone from Rufus's group. Cloud had pointed out a couple of their members to me passing in the halls but they weren't anyone I had come into contact with. I figured it was lucky.

It was also curious because whenever I saw any of the people I was introduced to at the party they would acknowledge me with a smile or a nod. Paine would usually glare, but Rikku was quite friendly. I didn't think that I had made a very big impact at the party although, when I said as much to Axel he told me it was because I was part of the group now. He said it didn't matter that Sora and I weren't official members of the Organization, we were still counted as their own. I just went with it and nodded back whenever someone greeted me.

Now that I had met more people I could pick out quite a few from the 'neutral group' that I had classes with. They never really spoke to me much but they didn't talk about me in whispers either. I discovered that Sora and I had our first class with Lulu, Vincent's standoffish girlfriend. I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed her before, even with all the black cloaks running around school her outfits stood out. Vincent always walked her to class and was there when the bell rang to escort her to the next one. It would have been cute if their demeanor's didn't make you think of Satanic cults, Sora told me. My twin never failed making the strangest statements.

"You aren't that mad at me are you?" Axel's voice interrupted my train of thought.

I glared at him and turned away with a huff. He sat on my other side and slowly curled an arm around me. Axel and I were still a new enough couple we hadn't completely sorted out each others' moods yet. I could tell he really wasn't sure how upset I may or may not have been. I decided to let him off the hook, this time.

"No, but don't make it a habit." I said warily.

Axel grinned at me and leaned forward to get a kiss. I indulged him for a minute, before on queue my brother started making gagging noises. We pulled apart and I knocked my shoulder into Sora's.

"You and Riku do it all the time you know. Double standard." I complained.

The silverette in question, standing nearby talking with Zexion, turned around and laughed in agreement. Sora pouted and knocked me back.

"So? At least we aren't _sitting right next to you._" He retorted.

Axel and I shrugged, he could move if he wanted to. The red-head pulled me back around for another kiss. Seeing as how he wasn't getting his way this time, Sora huffed and stood to walk over to his own boyfriend. I smirked against the lips pressed to mine.

"You never gave me an answer you know." Axel said as the bell rang and we headed back inside.

I paused in thought. He had said we didn't have to do anything, and I did want more than just a couple hours at a time with him. I also didn't want to upset Sora though, who I waved on to go ahead to class without me. He gave me an intense look before leaving us alone.

"How about I just stay Friday night instead of the whole weekend?" I asked, staring up at him.

"Whatever works for you." He conceded easily.

I smiled at Axel and stood up on my toes for a quick kiss. I may not have been a big fan of PDA, but there really wasn't anyone around us and I enjoyed kissing Axel. A quick kiss never really was one with him though, as soon as our lips brushed his tongue was swiping at my mouth insistently. I breathed a laugh and pressed closer opening my mouth readily. His tongue twined with mine and he wrapped his arms around me. I forgot that we were gonna be late to class at this point, my brain was on autopilot. I ran my hands over his toned chest and lost myself in fire.

The tardy bell broke us apart with reluctance. My lips twisted ruefully and he kissed my nose.

"I blame you." I grumbled at him.

"I know babe. See you after school." Axel's smile was unapologetic.

I shook my head as we went our separate ways to get to class. I took my time going up the stairwell because really, at this point late was late. I glanced out the window on the landing between steps, distracted by thoughts of Axel.

Out of nowhere I felt two hands on my back and then I was being shoved forward into the wall. I gasped as I hit my forehead on unforgiving brick, luckily not hard enough to draw blood. I whipped around furiously and froze as I saw three tall teenagers standing before me wearing smug smiles. I instantly knew these were the infamous members from Rufus's gang. I wasn't sure which one had shoved me, the blond, the red-head or the burly one with the shaved head. I had a feeling if it had been the last guy I would probably have gone _through_ the wall.

"What do you want?" I asked cautiously.

I knew the blond was Rufus, and I was pretty sure the other two were named Reno and Rude. Luxord and Xigbar talked about them enough times for me to remember their descriptions.

"A little less of your mouth for one." Rufus retorted.

Apparently, this was a signal for Reno to hit me for I had to dodge to the side of his incoming fist. He was faster than I expected however, his other fist quickly followed the miss and he caught me in the jaw. My head snapped to the side and I had to take a quick step over to keep my balance. Shit. Reno was fast and strong, this didn't bode well for me. I carefully turned to face them again and glared at Reno's cocky smirk.

"I don't know why you and your kind think it's acceptable to..." Rufus was talking again, but I had more pressing worries, like a pair of hard knuckles aiming at my face again.

I ducked under Reno's arm and brought my own clenched fist up to punch the taller boy in the stomach. He grunted and backed off a step to survey me more carefully. I realized that they had this whole 'corner and beat the shit out of other students' bit well rehearsed. Rufus would stand there and talk shit about you, trying to distract you from Reno trying to make a living punching bag out of you. I assumed that Rude was there in case their prey tried to get away or proved to be a good fighter. What arrogant assholes.

I decided not to waste any more time, surely Reno would try a different tactic next and I needed to get out of here while I still could. I lunged forward throwing my shoulder into Reno's chest and knocked him backwards. I spun to the side to get out of range of his arms. I took off up the next flight of stairs but didn't make it far before I felt a hard grip on my backpack catch my weight, and then I was being yanked backwards.

The force ripped my backpack from my body and I couldn't do anything but keep my head from bashing the floor as I landed hard on my back, knocking the wind out of me. I looked up to see Rude standing over me with almost no expression, I guess I was right about his job in this situation.

Reno's booted foot came down hard on my chest as soon as I tried to rise up from the floor. I grunted as he pressed a fair amount of his weight onto me. I put a hand on the toe and heel of his shoe and twisted viciously while at the same time scooting myself the opposite direction. His body spun enough I could scramble out from under him and I quickly stood and backed away from them. With no where to go I put my back to the wall again.

"Quite the scrapper aren't you?" Reno drawled.

Rude cracked his knuckles and it was more menacing than I wanted to admit. Rufus was still carrying on about us 'faggots' taking over his school. I paid him no mind, clearly he was not going to be a participating combatant.

"Two-on-one seems a little unfair to me." I said sarcastically to the boys blocking my path.

"Oh, I don't need Rude's help to kick your ass kid. He's just helpful whenever one of you tries to run away like a pussy." Reno snorted and took a calculated step forward.

I wasn't going to waste precious seconds replying verbally, which turned out to be a wise choice as Reno came towards me again. He aimed at my right side and I tried to duck under him only to find out it was a feint and his other fist caught me in the face again. I was knocked back into the wall and pain exploded along my jaw. I was pretty sure that one split my lip and licked at the corner of my mouth experimentally, yep that was copper I was tasting. I wondered if it would work in my favor to spit blood on them.

I crouched low and took a risk by swinging my leg out aiming a kick at Reno's knees. He danced out of the way and lunged at my now unprotected side slamming a hit in soft tissue. I made a noise of pain and retreated, but this time he wasn't giving me time to regroup and followed up with a kick of his own. I had to throw myself sideways to dodge it and managed to roll back up onto my feet.

I felt the adrenaline rushing through my veins and I was breathing hard. Reno fought a lot more fiercely than Hayner did. I felt almost cheated, even though Axel and Demyx had warned me about these guys I hadn't realized how much tougher they were than the other gang.

"Come on little one, we heard you handed Hayner's ass to him. You've barely made a mark on me yet." Reno jeered.

I took a step forward planning to lash out at his smug face, but again his speed surprised me. Reno's foot came shooting out faster than I could avoid and caught me in the chest. I flew back and smacked against the brick wall for the third time. I had no time to get my breath back before Reno was there, he punched me in the face and his other arm caught me in the stomach again as I started to fall. I landed in a heap at the red-head's feet, in pain and out of breath. I spit the blood in my mouth in his direction and lashed out with my foot. I got him in the shin and he went down onto one knee, unfortunately that just put him level with me again and his next hit landed on my already abused cheek.

I was going to have some major bruises tomorrow. I was feeling a little dazed from the hits to my head and I groaned while blinking slowly at the smirking senior a foot away from me. Reno took his time pushing himself to his feet, then his hand came down and snatched a hold of my arm and he dragged me to my feet. I swung wide with my free hand trying to hit him, but missed and he spun me around to tuck against his chest, with my arm twisted up behind my back in an iron hold. His other came around to settle firmly across my collarbone keeping me in place.

"It seems we have to make another example of one of you." Rufus said calmly; he looked completely unruffled like this was an everyday occurrence, for all I knew it could be.

I cried out as Reno's hand started to twist my wrist around and bring my arm up higher behind me. I realized he was planning on breaking my arm, in more than one spot if the radiating pain lacing up said appendage was any indicator. His grip tightened and he twisted harder causing me to scream and shut my eyes tightly.

"Let him go!" An angry voice yelled out.

Reno halted his actions and I blinked my eyes open painfully to see Axel standing only feet away, absolute fury on his face. I felt the arms around me stiffen in response and saw the other two bullies had paused as well. Axel's eyes scanned over my face, taking in my injuries and he snarled at my captor.

"Get your fucking hands off of him, Reno." His voice was low and deadly.

"What makes you think I'll do that?" I could feel Reno's breath ghost over my cheek as he scoffed.

I thrashed against him and his hand yanked on my arm again, hard. I choked a cry and stilled instantly. Axel took a quick step forward with clenched fists.

"Cousin or not, I swear I will _burn you_ if you don't let go of Roxas right now." Axel's voice was shaking with rage and I started at his words.

Cousin? Reno was related to my Axel? What the hell? Then I remembered how uncomfortable Axel always got when Rufus and his friends were brought up. How he always warned me away from them. I guess this was the bad blood that I had sensed, I just hadn't realized it was a literal term. Now that I knew their connection though, the two red-head's were actually more similar looking than Sora and I. It felt like the body pressed too close to mine was the same height and build as my own boyfriend as well.

"You and I both know that's an empty threat." Reno's voice had lost its taunting quality and was deadly serious.

The hate was radiating equally from both of them. I couldn't see Reno's face but I wondered if his expression was as searing as Axel's. I figured it would be wise to stay quiet at this point.

"I may not have retaliated against you in the past out of completely fucked up and undeserving respect for the family, but if you don't let go of my lover _right now_ you will be bleeding in seconds." Axel snarled.

I could feel Reno move to respond but loud footsteps on the hallway just up the stairs from us distracted our assembled group. Reno's hold immediately loosened and the next second I was being shoved forward, Axel immediately catching me before I could stumble.

"Quickly!" Rufus hissed at the other two and the three seniors disappeared down the stairs without another word.

Axel and I looked up to see Tidus fly past the open doorway and continue on, presumably late for his own class. Even though he was a jerk I wanted to thank the guy either way for excellent timing.

Axel's arms changed from steadying to comforting in a second and he hugged me to him tightly. I let myself sag into him and brought my own arms up around him loosely.

"What the hell were you thinking fighting those guys?" He mumbled into my hair.

"I didn't really have a choice, Ax. I tried to run up the stairs but Rude caught my backpack and threw me down." I said wryly.

I wasn't in the mood for a lecture right now. My body was rather sore and my jaw ached like a son of a bitch.

He pulled away and checked over me quickly. I brought a hand up to my face to feel along my jaw and bleeding lip. I winced.

"That bastard." Axel growled and caught my hand in his gently.

"I've had worse." I said seriously, it was sweet and all but I didn't need him to worry over me.

Axel frowned at me and kissed my forehead softly.

"All the same, we'll get him back." He promised.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Despite the multiple fighting games I've played and watching every episode of DragonBall Z I don't think I write fighting scenes very well. I hope this didn't suck lol.


	8. Chapter 8

Axel helped me gather my backpack and insisted on escorting me to English, which was probably half over by now. I didn't feel up to arguing with him, but later I would be reminding him firmly that I didn't need to be coddled. He gave me a feather light kiss on the unbruised corner of my mouth at the door, before he swept off down the hall.

I took a deep breath then opened the door as quietly as possible and slipped inside. There was no such thing as sneaking into class late unfortunately, and Mr. Reeves looked suitably pissed off.

"It's about time you showed up, class started half-" He abruptly cut off his own speech as he took in my appearance.

I heard a few gasps from the students but didn't turn to look. I really didn't want to see my brother's worried face. I shifted a bit and looked at my shoes.

"Fell down the stairs." I muttered the first excuse that popped into my head.

"Right. Well, if you don't need to see the nurse..." My teacher said leadingly. I shook my head quickly. "Then you can take your seat and catch up on the notes on the board." I could tell he knew it had been a gang fight, but just as Luxord had said the teachers seemed almost indifferent.

I kept my head down and quickly walked to my seat in the back. I didn't look at Sora as I sat down and slowly slid my bag off my shoulders. I didn't have time to move before Sora's fingers had laced with mine and he squeezed my hand tightly. I flicked my eyes up to his face and winced. My twin looked every bit as concerned and outraged as I had feared.

_Are you okay? _His blue eyes were frantic.

_I'm fine._ I told him with a slow blink.

He clearly didn't believe me, and scooted his desk subtly closer and ran his hand over my form. I flinched when he found the spots Reno's boots had kicked. He instantly pulled back.

"Not here." I muttered low so the people around us couldn't hear.

I knew Sora was biting his lip against tears but he heeded my words and let me be. His hand didn't let go of mine through the whole class.

Before the rest of the students could even rise at the end of class, Sora was up and tugging me after him towards gym. I tried to explain but he turned glassy eyes on me and I realized he only wanted to hear what happened once and didn't want me to have to repeat myself to Riku and Cloud. We got to our gym lockers before anyone else was around and my brother gently pushed on my shoulders to get me to sit down. He sat next to me quickly and held me gaze.

"What hurts?" He asked quietly.

I wordlessly pointed out my injuries to him. Sora took note of the spots and kept his arms clear as he hugged me tightly. I sighed against him and rested my head on his shoulder. I knew my twin wouldn't ever think me weak so I didn't hold back a soft whimper and wrapped my arms around him. I knew I wouldn't be up for playing dodge ball today.

We sat there for a few minutes, until other boys started to trickle in to change and we pulled apart slowly. Sora frowned at my busted lip and traced what I knew was a blossoming bruise over my cheek.

"What the hell happened?" Riku asked as he and Cloud showed up next to us.

"I met Rufus finally." I figured that was the best way to tell them.

The other three swore, Sora surprising me by joining in. My twin didn't usually curse. I shrugged in response and our friends glared at me.

"Yes, it_ is_ a big deal." Riku said firmly, he was used to me brushing things off.

"Axel already said he planned to get Reno back for it." I said mildly.

Once again all three of them responded the same, except Riku flinched.

"Reno was the one that beat you?" He asked softly.

"Yeah, I found out him and Axel are cousins. That was what you guys were hiding from me right?" I said, anger starting to work its way through me.

I had forgotten the fact in the past hour, that I had been lied to by everyone. I planned on bitching out Axel when I saw him after school. Sora winced next to me and hung his head.

"Sorry we didn't tell you." He said quietly.

"It wasn't our business to tell." Cloud was almost reprimanding.

"It was really up to Axel to decide if he wanted you to know." Riku added.

I glared at our friends, but I couldn't really be upset with Sora for it. I never had been able to be mad at him for very long, and it pissed me off that they had a point.

"I don't like being left in the dark." I snapped.

"Yes, well obviously next time we'll tell you since you didn't have the common sense to stay away from Reno." Riku retorted coolly.

"Fuck you man, I didn't go looking for the bastards! They cornered me in the stairwell!" My voice rose as I jumped to my feet.

I was not going to take this shit from these guys. Friends or no it was not my fault I got jumped. Sora sprang up next to me as well, taking my defense.

"Of course it wasn't your fault Roxas." Sora knew my thoughts as usual, he turned a frosty look on his boyfriend. "Don't blame him Riku. Everyone in the Organization runs into Rufus's gang sooner or later, don't single him out."

Riku was obviously not used to Sora taking an angry tone with him, he looked a bit bewildered and glanced between us uneasily. I wondered if they ever fought then decided it was unlikely. Cloud was watching us carefully but didn't say anything. The silverette frowned before nodding his head at me.

"Sorry." He said quickly.

"Don't worry about it." I dismissed it, not quite able to keep my own voice friendly.

"We'll tell everyone else after school so you don't have to." Sora said as we finished getting ready.

Rather, they did and I followed them out to the gym feeling equal parts upset and pissed off. Not to mention I was in some serious need of some Advil.

The coach took one look at me and told me to sit out on the bleachers. Thank fuck for small favors. I was pretty sure the guy didn't like me so I had figured he would keep me in, I guess he had a soul after all. I got as comfortable as I could on the hard seats and watched dully as the rest of the class pelted each other with rubber balls.

I really didn't want to go to Xemnas's house today with everyone. I wondered if Sora would let me off the hook and I could just go home? I figured he would want to come with me, which suited me just fine because all I wanted to do was curl up in bed with an ice pack.

The minutes ticked by slowly, but finally the bell rang signaling the end of my personal hell. I stood up stiffly and made my way down to the floor to meet Sora, who instantly attached himself to me. My leech and I went to grab our things followed by Riku and Cloud. They changed quickly and all of us left to head to our lockers and the parking lot.

Axel came running over as soon as he saw us and wrapped his arm around my waist, which was a feat seeing as how Sora still hadn't let go.

"I'm fine guys." I said dully.

Luxord and Xigbar came over, along with Demyx and Zexion looking concerned. I grimaced, I hated being the center of attention when the main emotion was pity. Demyx gasped as he looked over my face and the others made noises of anger and sympathy.

"I'm fine!" I insisted.

"What happened?" Demyx asked for all of them.

"Reno." Was Axel's growled answer.

I glanced around at the group and was surprised to see not only anger, but retribution in all of their faces.

"We'll take care of it, don't worry about anything." Luxord said and whipped out his pack of cigarettes to light one up.

"Okay fine. Listen," I shrugged out of Sora and Axel's hold and turned to face them, "I really just want to go home and lay down with some ice okay? I'm not going with the gang today." I said quickly not wanting to hurt their feelings.

Sora was nodding along before I even finished my sentence. Axel looked a little let down but nodded slowly.

"Sure Rox, want me to drive you home?" He offered.

"I'm coming too." Sora insisted with wide eyes.

"Okay." I said to both.

I took Axel's hand back and he led me to his car, while Sora said goodbye to Riku. Axel made me sit in the passenger seat and I complied with poor grace. I crossed my arms and let my head fall back with my eyes closed. A minute later I heard Sora get in the car and Axel took off towards my house. The reason I didn't want to go to Sora's, was I knew that Akemi would kick up a fuss. I knew most orphans would jump at the chance to be mothered by someone as nice as her, but I wasn't the type so appreciate being babied.

I felt the car pull to a stop and blinked open my eyes tiredly. The ache in my jaw had spread up and evolved into a full-fledged headache by this point. I looked over at Axel who was watching me closely. I gave him a small smile, that was only half forced.

"I'll be fine. Really." I repeated.

"I'll make sure he is." Sora put in and climbed out of the back seat.

I opened my door but Axel put his hand on my wrist. I paused and looked back at him. His mouth curved up into a grin but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Take care of yourself." He whispered, his green eyes bright.

I leaned over and pressed my forehead into his neck in response. Damn that Reno for making kissing painful at the moment. I rested there for a moment before my head throbbed again. With a small groan of discomfort I pulled away and slipped out of the car. Axel waved goodbye and I returned it halfheartedly before turning to follow Sora into the house.

My twin all but shoved me into bed saying not to move an inch. He dashed off downstairs and returned with a cold pack, Advil and a glass of water balanced in his hands. I sighed in relief and threw the pills back without hesitation. My brother was the only one I let take care of me. Sora popped in a movie on the small TV I had on my desk and settled down next to me on the bed. I shifted over to rest my head in his shoulder and he ran his hands gently through my spikes. It was a soothing gesture that helped the ache in my head. I let my eyes rest and slipped into a light doze with no trouble.

I was woken up suddenly by Sora's cellphone going off. He shifted beneath me and fished it out his pocket mumbling an apology. I could hear a male voice on the other end but couldn't make out the words being said. My head still felt groggy and I wondered briefly how long I had been asleep.

"What?" Sora breath of concern snapped me into full awareness.

He listened intently to the boy on the line and I sat up trying to overhear. I knew he could see the question in my face but he shook his head slightly.

"I don't know why you. . . Yes I get that part but-" He was cut off by a loud exclamation.

"Sora what the hell?" I whispered anxiously.

"Some of the guys went after Reno while you were asleep." He said quickly then turned his attention back to the caller.

My body felt oddly cold. Who had been involved? I knew someone had been hurt from Sora's tone and I couldn't help but feel responsible. But if they had gone after Reno surely they would have at least waited until he was alone so they didn't get ambushed? My curiosity was killing me.

"Okay! Yeah, we'll meet you there." Sora said sourly and snapped his phone shut.

"What the hell?" I repeated.

"That was Luxord, he says everyone is going over to Demyx's place and we should be there." He scrubbed a hand through his hair nervously.

"Who went after Reno? What happened?" I prodded.

"Axel, Cloud and Leon and I'm pretty sure Riku went too and Luxord just isn't telling me." Sora explained and got up off the bed, I followed him quickly. "None of them got really hurt but they didn't catch Reno by himself. I guess it was a pretty big fight. We need to go."

We wordlessly threw our shoes back on and quickly left the house. Demyx's place was only two streets over so we made the walk in no time. I wasn't sure if it was the adrenaline or if my nap had made the difference but I couldn't feel the aches in my body anymore.

Larxene pulled the front door open before we even reached it and ushered us inside. The group was gathered around the four sitting on the living room couch, Sora was right about Riku being involved. They all had bloody knuckles, an assortment of bruises and in Cloud's case a nasty gash on his right arm.

Demyx, Zexion and Xion were armed with cotton balls, gauze and hydrogen peroxide and were trying to clean them up. The four fighters however were not making this easy, they all seemed very smug and were retelling their apparent victory to the other upperclassmen.

Sora and I shared an incredulous look and went to sit by our partners.

Axel was trying to wave a determined looking Demyx away from cleaning a raw scrape on his cheek, I sat on the arm of the couch and glared down at him.

"Hey Roxas." He said casually with a wide smile.

I continued my patented haughty stare until the red-head deflated. He scratched the back of his head looking a bit sheepish, Demyx took the opportunity to dab him with the hydrogen peroxide.

"Ow! Shit Demyx that hurt!" Axel yelped and tried to lean away from his friend.

Demyx huffed and kept the cotton ball pressed against him, the others were having just as much time getting the others' to sit for their treatment. Sora had planted himself on Riku's lap to keep the silverette from escaping Xion's bandages. Leon was saying something to Cloud looking concerned while Zexion tried to clean up his bloodied arm. I cuffed Axel on the back of the head.

"You're an idiot!" I hissed.

The room fell into an unnatural silence at my outburst. I ignored the lot of them and stood up angrily. Demyx wisely moved out of the line of fire while Axel stared up at me not joking for once.

"I told you Roxas, we retaliate when they attack one of us." Axel's voice was quiet, his tone matter-of-fact.

"Sora said you fought the whole gang? That was a stupid move, you should have just gone after Reno alone!" I snapped.

I wasn't sure why I was getting so worked up. It had been me against the world for so long, I should have been thankful for someone having my back. Instead, it just made me feel helpless and I couldn't stand it.

"Corner him by himself? That doesn't make us any better than them." Axel snapped losing his cool.

The red-head shot up off the sofa and used his height advantage to try to make me back down. I wasn't having it.

"It's no wonder you're all bleeding all over the couch then! If you don't play the same game as them you lose! I've been here before Axel, it's obvious why you guys aren't winning the war." I sneered and shook my head.

Sora was staring at me wide eyed, as was the rest of the group sitting around us actually. I knew he hadn't heard me lose my temper for a while but I couldn't help it. It pissed me off they went and got themselves torn up for such a stupid reason. I was glad Reno got his comeuppance, Axel had been vocal about them getting off with less injuries than the other gang, but not at the cost of Axel and the others.

"You really don't know shit about this Roxas. You've only been here a month." Axel said viciously.

I froze. I had heard that before. I was always the new kid, not around long enough to actually matter. Always an outsider. My eyes burned with rage.

"Fuck you then." I spat and turned on my heel.

The Organization parted like the red sea to let me stalk out of the house.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sorry to disappoint those of you looking forward to a lemon here, Roxas has to be angsty instead.


	9. Chapter 9

I heard fast footsteps behind me and didn't even pause when Sora took my hand and kept pace with me. He was stiff as a board next to me on our walk back but the brunette didn't say anything. I could feel disapproval coming off him in waves and I knew not all of it was directed at Axel. I really could care less, I was sick of being unimportant to everyone.

He followed me back to my house and stayed silent as I unlocked the door to step away from him and throw myself face down on the sofa. My anger had burnt out, leaving me with a hollow pit in my stomach. I felt Sora sit down by my feet.

"Don't say it." I said softly into the leather.

"It was unfair of him to say that to you. Axel only went after them in your defense though." Sora spoke anyway.

"I don't want to hear this." I mumbled.

"They do care Roxas, I know Axel likes you a lot. . . I think he expected you to be happy they got revenge for you." He sounded like he was trying to figure it out the same as I was.

"I don't need his protection." I grumbled.

"Maybe not. . . I don't like that Riku went with them." My twin agreed with a twinge of annoyance all his own. "I like that he looks out for me though." He added.

"I can handle myself, there was no need to go after them." I retorted ignoring his words.

"Roxas they would've jumped someone else soon enough anyway. They're always looking for reasons to fight each other. That's just how it is here." Sora was getting frustrated and I knew he was tugging his hair even though he was out of my line of sight.

I sat up and turned to face him, Sora did indeed have a hand buried in his chocolate spikes. I gently pulled his hand away from his scalp and threaded our fingers. We sighed at the same time.

"This sucks." I muttered looking at our feet.

"I know, I hate it." Sora agreed.

His fingers tightened on mine and I brought my gaze up to his.

"I don't think you should take it out on Axel." He said softly.

"I just. . .I'm not used to other people . . .caring." I had trouble expressing emotions besides anger.

Sora's eyes softened.

"I know, but it's different now. You have to realize Roxas, even before you started dating Axel you are important to a lot of people now. Why do you think Riku went with them? Because you're my brother. You aren't on your own anymore." Sora managed to keep his voice from breaking.

I looked away and nodded slightly.

"Yeah, okay." I mumbled.

"Good." He said and squeezed my hand again. "Do you want to go back to Demyx's house?" He asked.

"Do I have to apologize for being a little shit?" I joked halfheartedly.

Sora smiled and stood up, taking me with him.

"That's up to you." He answered.

"They probably all hate me now." I said nervously as I followed Sora back down the street.

"No they won't." He said firmly.

I wasn't sure I believed him. We stepped onto the lawn and I stopped.

"Want me to go get Axel?" My brother asked glancing at me with some concern.

"Yeah."

He dropped my hand and strode purposely into the house, closing the door behind him. I shifted on my feet and wondered what I was going to say. Would Axel still be mad? I wasn't aware his temper was as bad as mine, what if he thought I wasn't worth the trouble and just dumped me? Rejection wasn't something I took well.

Before my thoughts got too carried away the door opened and I looked up to see Sora pushing a wary looking Axel towards me. My brother snapped the door shut to give us some privacy.

"Hey." I said lamely.

Axel came towards me and paused a couple feet away. I avoided his eyes and stuffed my hands into my pockets.

"Um, listen. I was kind of stupid back there. I do um, appreciate that you got them back for me. I'm just not used to it I guess." I said this slowly and felt like an idiot afterwords.

Axel said nothing and I looked up at him uncomfortably. His eyes were intense, his face unreadable.

"I'll just go then." I breathed out feeling my heart trying to crush itself.

I turned away, but Axel quickly came forward and hugged me from behind. His arms were tight and he pressed his face into my hair.

"You're an idiot." He repeated my words from earlier.

"I thought-" I started feeling off-balance.

"I know what you thought, you were wrong. Guess I failed to mention I'm kind of over-protective?" Axel chuckled weakly and I felt it through his chest.

"I'm sorry." I said barely audibly.

I wasn't used to apologizing for anything.

"Me too. I wasn't thinking, I just had to show Reno he couldn't touch you without serious consequences." Axel said the last on a growl.

Unexpectedly, I felt warmth rush through me at his words. I could handle him being a little possessive, in fact I quite liked it. I turned around in his arms and pressed myself to him.

"Okay so we're both stupid." I chuckled. "I really thought you were gonna dump me." I spoke honestly.

"Over a little spat? It would take a lot more than that." Axel assured me.

I picked me head up off his chest and smirked at him.

"You just like making up." I accused.

He bent forward to capture my lips in a rough kiss. I took that as an affirmation.

"You know I didn't mean that last bit right?" Axel asked as he pulled away.

Any left over hurt was swept away by that. I simply nodded against him. We shared a long look, making sure everything was okay. The door banging open again startled us. Xigbar demanded we get our asses back inside cause Axel really needed to stop bleeding all over the place. I realized looking closer that he must have victoriously fought off Demyx because his knuckles and cheek were indeed still free of bandages.

I scowled at him and tugged him back inside the house. I gave him a firm push towards the couch to keep from having to look at anyone else. Sora's optimism aside I was nervous after our fight to be around the Organization.

"Now sit still!" Demyx declared and attacked the red-head.

I gave a cursory look around the room but no one seemed too upset anymore. Riku was pretending to look chastised and failing while Sora scolded him gently. The bigger seniors were grouped in the kitchen talking about what the fight would mean for the ongoing feud. Larxene and Xion were teasing Luxord and Xigbar about not going along with the others, while the pierced and scarred teens defended themselves saying that they hadn't known about in time.

"I think this may need stitches." Zexion's voice caught my attention.

Cloud and Leon were still on the couch, the blond's arm had already bled through the gauze currently wrapped around it. Leon looked pissed and inspected the wound gently. Cloud had almost no expression on his face, but I could see his jaw was locked.

"I would rather not go to the hospital." He ground out between clenched teeth.

"Obviously it's rather deep and painful, Demyx can drive you guys." Zexion said not budging.

Demyx looked over and stood up, done cleaning up Axel.

"Sure!" He said quickly and went to grab his keys off the side table.

"We'll be back." Leon grunted and kept a careful hand on his lover's arm.

Cloud grimaced with distaste but followed the other two out the door. My brows drew down in concern, poor Cloud.

"He'll be fine. He's tougher than most." Axel said catching my look.

The butterfly band-aid on his cheek was actually rather endearing.

"Next time at least will you let me know what you're going to do beforehand?" I muttered and dropped into the seat next to him.

"Sure thing Roxy." Axel agreed easily.

I let him wind his arms around me and rested my head on his shoulder only to shoot up a moment later, forgetting it was my injured side.

"Dammit!"

The lot of us hung around and ordered take-out waiting for news of Cloud. It was late that night the three arrived back at the house looking exhausted. Cloud had a fancy wrap on his arm and it was obvious they had given him some sort of pain medication because he looked like a walking zombie.

"Glad you guys are okay." Sora said for everyone.

"Yeah, yeah we're all fine. Can you guys please leave now? I'm sleepy!" Demyx whined at the room.

We laughed and obediently cleared off.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next day at school was awkward. Everyone had of course heard about the battles of the day before and could clearly see the bruising on everyone who had been involved. As usual the teachers ignored the elephant in the room. Whispers followed every member of the Organization regardless of direct involvement. There was extra speculation surrounding Cloud as it was obvious he had been to the emergency room.

Luxord informed me with a smirk that Reno was also sporting professional bandages. I hadn't seen any of the members of Rufus's gang yet and I was more than happy to keep it that way.

Rikku ran up to me and Sora as we were exiting our last class before lunch looking worried.

"Are you okay? You poor thing!" she exclaimed and put her arms around me tightly.

Completely caught off guard I looked over her shoulder at Sora helplessly.

"Careful! He's still sore." My brother said quickly and the girl immediately detached herself.

"Sorry!" she squeaked looking apologetic.

Rikku hooked her elbow through mine instead and started to tow me to the cafeteria, my amused twin following behind us.

"Um, Rikku I'm really fine." I muttered embarrassed.

The hyperactive blond was drawing some looks from the herd of students mingling around the lunch line.

"You're alive I see." A cool voice said and I snapped my head over to see Paine giving me a once over.

"Yeah, we all are." I said uncomfortably.

"Rikku." Paine said the girl's name sharply and she released my arm instantly.

"Bye Roxas! We have things to do." She quipped and the two disappeared into the crowd.

"That was weird." Sora said with raised eyebrows.

I agreed and we moved outside to the hangout. I looked around immediately for Axel but frowned when I didn't see him. He always beat us because his class was on the same floor instead of two above like ours. I turned to Sora and he shrugged. My twin went to sit with Riku and I reluctantly followed feeling unnerved.

Maybe it was because of the events of the previous day but I found Axel's absence to be worrisome. None of the others seemed concerned where they sat eating their lunches, but I kept a constant look out for bright red hair. I picked at my sandwich halfheartedly before Sora poked me to gain my attention.

_ I'm sure he's fine_. He told me.

"I'm gonna go look for him." I said instead and stood up.

"Are you sure you want to go alone?" He was anxious.

"All the bullies are probably too sore after yesterday to start anything." I said lightly, trying to convince myself as much as him.

Sora nodded slowly and let me go. I walked briskly through the cafeteria and let the heavy doors close behind me. In the hallway the noise of the majority of the school was strangely muffled and trying to ignore the creeping feeling down my spine I headed towards Axel's locker.

Maybe he had forgotten something and made a quick stop? Only if someone had stopped to talk to him could make him take fifteen minutes though. I came up to the corridor of lockers but didn't see my boyfriend anywhere. I decided to check the boy's bathrooms and spun an about face then cut down the intersection. I came up to the restrooms and heard muted voices coming from within. Bingo.

I eased the door open slowly in case they weren't Axel and froze when I recognized Reno's drawl. I was surprised when I heard Axel's silky smooth tone respond.

"This is just getting ridiculous." Came Axel's voice.

There was a wall that created a barrier from looking straight into the toilets and I very quietly moved inside and let the door close, keeping behind the tile so the cousins couldn't see me.

"I don't like going to the damn hospital any more than you, yo." Reno responded.

Their voices were angry but they weren't shouting. Had they called a truce? Or had they already fought and were worn down?

"You started it." Axel snapped.

"Very mature, cousin." Reno chided.

"Don't call me that Reno."

"I'm just waiting for you to give this game up."

"I've told you before asshole this isn't a game to me." Axel growled.

"Rufus is getting tired of the war." Reno's response was cold.

"We graduate this year anyway, what's the fucking point?" Axel said exasperated.

"What's the point of putting you fags in your place-Ow!" Reno's voice cried out as I heard a loud 'smack'.

"Shut your mouth."

"Fuck! Okay Ax, Jesus you didn't have to-"

"Try not to be dumber than you can help." Axel's voice was sneering.

I risked a peek around the corner to see the two red-heads facing off, their profiles towards me. Axel's hands were clenched, straining his bandaged knuckles. Reno was grasping his right shoulder, I could see white gauze peeking out from under his button up shirt. Clearly Axel had punched him in injury from the night before. Thought he said we had to play fair? I narrowed my eyes at the pair.

"Look we know Vincent was at your party a few weeks back. People have been talking." Reno continued looking rueful.

"And?" Axel snarked.

I saw him glance out of the corner of his eye in my direction and I whipped backwards behind the wall. I held my breath and didn't make a sound. I heard no change from the conversation so quickly paid attention to what Reno was saying,

"-falling out of favor. It'll probably blow over soon."

"I don't see why you of all people are telling me this." Axel said.

Was I imagining the steel in his voice? I hoped he hadn't seen me eavesdropping.

"I'm just saying that there might be an end coming." Reno's voice was wheedling.

"Then why did you attack Roxas yesterday?" Axel demanded.

"You know why! Besides, it's only been since this morning that the talk has changed. Vincent has a bigger voice than we hoped since he sided with your people."

"It's too bad you didn't have to stay overnight in the hospital, I thought I stuck you better than that."

"Please. If you were that mad I hurt little Roxy you would've done something more serious."

"Excuse me for not wanting to end up with a permanent record." Axel's voice was searing.

"Whatever, we've already been over this. I'll let you know when it happens." Reno's tone was abrupt and I heard him move towards me.

Heart pounding I ripped the door open and sprinted around the corner hoping he didn't notice me. I heard his steps going off down the hallway and thanked tile flooring for good acoustics.

"How much of that did you catch?" Axel's voice was a foot away and I snapped my head up to see him peering around my corner.

I gauged his expression carefully. One eyebrow was drawn up in question and his eyes were serious but I didn't detect any anger. His voice had been neutral.

"More than I probably should have." I said truthfully.

He stepped fully around the corner and brought a hand up to cup my cheek.

"Reno says that after yesterday Vincent is throwing his backing fully behind the Organization. Rufus is thinking about calling a truce through the end of the year. That would mean nothing to Seifer's gang but they aren't the ones sending people to the hospital either."

"Why were you talking to him? Don't you guys hate each other?" I asked cautiously.

His thumb grazed over my lips and I couldn't help but lean into his touch.

"We were raised together like brothers for most of our lives. I never told him I was gay, he found out with the rest of the school. He saw it as betrayal and joined Rufus's gang to get back at me." Axel explained, his voice was tired.

"Isn't he homophobic though?" I asked.

"I honestly don't know how much of the crap he spews are his own thoughts or the rest of his gangs'. Doesn't matter at this point."

"Sorry I snooped. . . I was . . . worried when you didn't show up for lunch." I told him, getting distracted by his thumb on my mouth again.

He leaned down and I met his lips halfway. I took the remaining step between our bodies and locked my hands behind his neck. His lanky arms wound tight around my back in response. I hummed against his mouth and he titled his head to deepen the kiss, his tongue gently teasing against mine. I pressed harder against him and he drew his teeth along my tongue causing my body to shudder.

Axel pulled out of the kiss and dipped his head to nibble the skin under my ear while I panted and made encouraging sounds. I felt his hands slide under my shirt and wondered for the numerous time how his hands always stayed so warm, his body temperature was constantly higher than mine. He scratched his nails lightly down my back and I groaned. He bit my neck hard at that and I gasped while he worked on leaving a mark.

"Axel." I mumbled and tried to pull away.

His teeth let go but he didn't release me from his grip.

"Are you still staying the night tomorrow?"

His breath ghosted over the shell of my ear, his voice low and seductive.

"Are you going to molest me some more?" It came out more breathless than I wanted.

He pulled back to smirk at me wickedly.

"Only if you let me."

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I find it amusing that one of my reviewers is asking me to tone down the Soroku interaction while another wants them to get together. I'm just happy you like this story.


	10. Chapter 10

This is the last chapter. I was going to end it on the last one since the plot was wrapped off but you talked me into a lemon, you dirty people you. So yeah, boys having graphic sex! You're warned.

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I waited until that evening to tell Sora I had decided to stay at Axel's. He wasn't pleased.

"Are you sure Roxas? I mean, Riku and I haven't-"

"I know Sora, we aren't the same as you guys though." I muttered cutting him off.

I was looking through his closet (though really it was _ours_ at this point) trying to pick out what to wear tomorrow, basically distracting myself and taking the cowards way out so I didn't have to look at him.

"_Still._" My brother said insistently.

I sighed and turned to look at him; he was sprawled over his bed, Geometry textbook lying forgotten next to him with brows pulled down over concerned eyes. Why was he able to make me feel guilty without even trying? Had this power completely skipped me or did I possess an insane amount of manipulation as well? I made a note to try it out at a later date.

"Look Sora, we're teenage guys. I mean, I shouldn't really have to spell this out." I said bluntly.

My twin blushed and looked away.

"Okay fine! You better make him wear a condom though." He said quickly through his embarrassment.

I almost squeaked at that, but remedied the situation instead by grabbing my pillow off the bed and hitting him with it.

He just laughed and shot off downstairs for dinner.

The next day at school flew by. Curious how everyone says when you're looking forward to something time seems to slow, yet before I knew it the last bell was ringing and I was following Sora to the parking lot.

Riku had driven us as usual and I went to grab my overnight bag out of the backseat, trying to ignore an antsy Sora.

"You could always-" he began but Riku interrupted him.

"It's his choice babe, I'm sure he'll be fine." He said gently wrapping an arm around Sora's shoulders.

I didn't always get along with my brother's boyfriend but I was thankful for him today. I immediately saw Axel when he exited the school and felt my heart thump excitedly. I made myself keep a cool facade as he approached us and dropped a kiss to my forehead.

"Ready to go?" he asked smoothly.

"You guys aren't coming to Xaldin's place?" Sora broke in.

"I told you we weren't Sora, stop worrying." I reminded him.

"I'll have him home by tomorrow afternoon, kiddo." Axel said.

"See? Have fun with Riku while I'm gone." I grabbed Axel's hand and started towards his car, ready to get away from Sora's tension.

"Be safe!" Sora yelled after us.

I cringed while Axel laughed loudly. I glared at him and threw my duffel into the backseat before throwing myself into the front. Axel was still chortling as he got in the car and pulled out of the lot.

"He is _so_ innocent." The red-head stated with some wonder.

"Tell me about it. Riku must have the patience of a saint." I smirked.

"Poor guy." Axel muttered sympathetically.

"Yeah . . . even though I started that line of thought I'd rather not think about my brother having sex." I said with a grimace.

Axel reached over and placed his hand on my thigh giving it a squeeze.

"I'm sure we'll find other things to entertain us at my house."

I glanced over at him with pink cheeks and he winked at me.

Axel's house wasn't too far from school so we got there in no time. It wasn't the first time I had been here so I took my shoes off inside the door like I was supposed to and headed towards the kitchen for a snack, right at home.

"What do you think you're doing?" His silky voice called after me.

I paused and looked over my shoulder, he was standing with his arms crossed and one eyebrow raised. He did that so often I was going to suggest he get it pierced.

"What?" I asked and turned around fully when he made no move.

"This is technically a date Roxy, as such we aren't eating my own food, but ordering take-out." Axel declared.

I laughed at his fake dramatic tone.

"Fine fine, I wasn't aware this was a date though." I pointed out.

I walked past him to flop on the luxury couch in the living room. He followed me and pulled out his cell phone, sitting on the arm to speed dial his favorite Italian restaurant. Nearly all the businesses on this side of Hollow Bastion made deliveries, taking advantage of the laziness of the rich not wanting to cook their own food.

Axel ordered for us efficiently then snapped the phone closed. He knew what I liked to eat. He then decided to make himself comfortable and planted his head in my lap, his length easily taking over the couch and letting his feet dangle off the edge.

"So, whats on the agenda?" I asked cheekily.

Bright green eyes peered up at me with a playful twinkle. I brought my hand up to gently massage at his scalp and his eyes fell closed as he hummed in appreciation.

"Whatever you want to do." He mumbled happily.

"PlayStation?" I suggested.

Our options were limited as we had the delivery guy coming soon. He nuzzled his face into my stomach and I chuckled.

"Sounds like a plan." Axel said got off me to set up the game system.

I curled up in my corner of the couch as he handed me a controller, before sitting back down next to me. The deep voice declaring 'Soul Caliber 4!' got my adrenaline racing. We smirked at each other before starting up versus player. After six rounds we broke even and the doorbell ringing signaled our food had arrived.

Axel shot off the couch to pay the delivery boy while I quickly un-paused the game and got a ring out on his character.

"Cheater!" Axel screeched.

"I am not, she jumped! Everyone hated her, she didn't have any money, she was all alone in the world . . .yadda yadda." I proclaimed dramatically until Axel's eyebrow hitched again and I trailed off loosing steam.

"You get that you're weird right?"

I laughed at him and grabbed my take-out box out of his hands. He muttered to himself and shook his head at me. We ended up eating our food quickly because every time one of us would take a bite the other would try and knock their character off the edge of the platform.

"Okay truce!" I yelped as Tira threw Maxi out of the ring for the fourth time.

"Serves you right!" Axel exclaimed laughing loudly.

I set both of our take-out boxes carefully on the table then launched myself at him. Axel was taken by surprise and we rolled off the sofa with simultaneous yelps. I landed on top of my lanky boyfriend and grinned at him triumphantly.

"Honestly, that means nothing. I still won our game." Axel said breezily.

I pretended not to notice his hands resting firmly on my hips were I sat straddling him. I glared down my nose at him.

"By cheating." I reminded him.

I ran my hands lightly over his chest and rocked my weight back and forth to see his reaction. His amused expression fled instantly and his eyes darkened. I felt one of his hands slid up my back, under my shirt and he easily bent me forward to meet his kiss. I easily tilted my head to give him better access to my mouth.

His tongue traced every corner and I breathed heavily through my nose as my heart rate sped up. I couldn't help the small moan that he swallowed and shifted myself closer to him. It was rare we were uninterrupted and we were taking full advantage of it.

His fingers ghosted down my spine sending a shiver through my body and I broke the kiss. Axel grinned sexily at me before rolling his hips upwards. I choked when I felt both our arousal's touch. My eyes slipped closed at the delicious friction when he ground against me again.

"Want to migrate somewhere more comfortable?" His voice was breathless with lust.

I blinked open heavy-lidded eyes to nod at him.

Axel flipped us over, then stood and pulled me to my feet in one smooth movement. He must have practiced that. He kept a grip on my hand and took the lead to his bedroom. I wasn't sure why people said they had butterflies in their stomachs, I was pretty sure mine were bouncy balls or maybe pogo sticks. Whatever it was it felt more violent than harmless butterflies. My strange thoughts were derailed when suddenly I was sitting on Axel's bed with the door closed and locked.

He was pulling his shirt off before I could blink and I had to put a hand on his chest to make him stop so I could admire it. I hadn't gotten the chance to really explore my red-head yet and was very attracted to his toned muscles and smooth skin.

"You want to slow down?" He asked in concern.

In response I stripped my shirt off and threw it behind him. I saw a flash of approval in his gaze before he was on me again, lips attached to mine and his hands roving. I leaned backwards slowly pulling him down with me and parted my legs for him to rest between them. I sucked his tongue into my mouth and grazed my teeth over it, causing him to grind into me. Pleased with that I thrust back and we started a slow rhythm against each other.

His fingers explored my chest and found my nipples to flick and tease. I arched under him with a whine. I hadn't figured on being very vocal, not having the experience to know for sure, but it seemed that was quickly going out the window. Axel clearly didn't mind as his lips left mine to kiss down my neck and bite at my shoulder. I could feel the heat in my body increasing and knew it was quickly going to be unbearable.

"Axel." I breathed and arched against him when he moved to bite a nipple.

"More?" He asked huskily.

I gently pulled him by his hair back up to eye level to nod into lusty eyes. He smirked and pulled away completely. I felt cold at the loss of him, his warmth was always comforting to me. Axel wasted no time however, quickly undoing his jeans and turning on his side to tug them off along with his boxers. Seeing Axel naked for the first time was slightly intimidating but I tried not to show it. He leaned over me and slowly started to undo my jeans, keeping eye contact with me.

I was panting lightly and kept still as he slid my pants and boxers off, leaving me feeling only a little vulnerable. Axel eyed me appreciatively and reached out to grasp my erection. My eyes fluttered closed and my lips parted at his touch. His hand slid over me sending pleasurable waves coursing through my body. I gave a small moan. I could sense his smirk and opened my eyes in time to see his head dip down, nearly sending me off the bed when I felt his tongue flick over the tip.

I gasped and shuddered when his mouth took all of it in and he slid down, sucking lightly before sliding back up to swirl his tongue around the top. I couldn't help my body's reaction and weakly thrust my hips up for more. I felt one of his hands catch my hip to keep me in place and opened my mouth to apologize, but a loud moan came out instead, Axel had decided to take me in further and start sucking in earnest.

I had never received a blow job before and the pleasure was becoming almost too much. I keened and arched my back as the heat in my lower half started to climb. Axel gently released me from his mouth and moved back up to see my face. I blinked at him, dazed with desire and growing impatient.

"Ready for more?" He asked softly.

I pulled him into a heated kiss and sneaked a hand between our bodies to grasp him. Axel tensed and his lips pressed against mine with bruising force. I kept my hand moving at a steady rhythm and moaned into his mouth hoping he would take the hint. Axel tore himself away from me with a curse and he quickly opened his bedside drawer to pull out a condom and lube.

I smirked at him, happy to get my way, though it might have been ruined by my bedroom eyes. Axel glared and bent over me again to kiss me roughly. I was pleased at his reactions to me. It helped that I was more turned on at the moment then I had been my entire life. I was only slightly concerned about what was next. Axel's tongue twining with mine wasn't quite enough to distract me from the sound of a cap being opened and only seconds later I felt Axel's finger teasing at my entrance.

My body naturally tensed and Axel pulled away to kiss down my neck. I took a deep breath to relax and I felt his lips smile into my skin. He nibbled on my earlobe as I took another breath and I felt his finger slide into me. It wasn't painful, but the sensation was odd. He slowly pushed it in and out of my body getting me used to the sensation. I made a small noise letting him know I could take more.

He drew his tongue up the shell of my ear and he breathed huskily into it. I tilted my head to the side invitingly and he gave me more attention while inserting a second finger. It was more uncomfortable now and I took another deep breath as he started to scissor his fingers gently. The slow motion of in and out was going to drive me crazy. The heat was still increasing and I wanted more.

"Axel." I all but whimpered his name.

He moved to kiss me again and I couldn't help the wince when he added the third finger. His hand kept its slow steady pace and we waited for my body to adjust again. I kissed him desperately skimming my nails down his back to distract me. His mouth sought to sooth mine and I felt his fingers slide deeper inside my body. I knew what he was looking for and hoped he found the spot quickly.

White hot pleasure suddenly lashed through my body and my eyes rolled back. Axel smiled against me and he fingers stroked harder. I shuddered and broke the kiss gasping.

"Like that?" He whispered.

I keened and arched again as his mercilessly rubbed against my prostate.

"A-ax." I whimpered.

He relented finally and drew his hand away to reach for the condom. There was a tight spring coiling around my pelvis and I was nearly shaking. My eyes followed him hungrily as he rolled the condom on himself and shifted my legs up around his waist. His eyes caught mine again and an entirely different kind of warmth swept through me at the affection in his orbs. I gave him a soft smile and he leaned forward to kiss me ever so gently, sliding his length into me at a measured pace.

My eyebrows creased and I made a small sound at the pain. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but it wasn't pleasurable either. Axel stilled when his hips met mine and he deepened the kiss licking along my tongue trying to comfort. I exhaled sharply through my nose and hesitantly shifted my hips. Axel broke the kiss to groan quietly. The burning sensation had subsided so I rolled my hips upwards again. Axel took my cue to pull away, almost all the way out then thrust forwards. I cried out.

He buried his face into my neck and repeated the action, my legs wrapped tighter around his body and I couldn't help but scratch down his back. Axel started a steady rhythm, thrusting deep and I felt the coil tighten. The pleasure I had felt from his fingers started to make its presence known, only this time it was increased tenfold. I started to meet his thrusts, driving him deeper into me. Axel groaned and thrust faster.

I felt that hot whip of pleasure lash through me again and I gave a strangled cry. My lover immediately noted this and pounded into me with renewed fervor. My lips were moving soundlessly while the heat built up and I writhed against Axel. We moved with each other fluidly, wrapped around and inside as close as we could get to one another.

Axel raised his head and I opened my eyes to catch his gaze. His thrusting never faltered as we held eye contact. One of his hands let go of my hip to move and wrap around my arousal tightly. I mewled and tipped my head back. I could feel sweat gathering on my forehead and Axel's back was slick where my nails dug in. His breath washed over my face with every pant and I knew nothing except Axel.

His hand pumped me in even time with his thrusts and I could feel the molten heat move through my body. I groaned and arched closer to him. Axel's hand stilled on my erection but kept a firm hold and I opened my eyes in confusion. My lover grinned down at me and increased his pace causing my body to shudder. I realized he wasn't going to let me orgasm before him. I tried to growl but it came out sounding more like a whine than anything.

I deliberately clenched down on him inside me and scratched him hard. Axel moaned into my ear and released his grip. The pleasure had built into a crescent wave and I fell over the edge into ecstasy. My eyes rolled back and I opened my mouth soundlessly as waves of unbearable pleasure coursed through me. Axel kept his rough pace drawing out my orgasm deliciously. I made a small noise in my throat and opened my eyes to look at him.

Axel picked that moment to let go and his eyes clenched shut as his own body shook around me in bliss. I tightened my muscles on him to increase his pleasure as he had mine. Axel's spikes lowered as he pressed his face into my neck again and he breathed deeply.

We lay there for a few minutes as our bodies cooled and we caught our breath. He picked his head up and kissed me with a passion. I returned it wholeheartedly. Axel broke away to smile at me with affection.

"I have to say that was pretty awesome."

I smiled back at him softly.

"I would have to agree. . . you really need to get off now though." I said teasingly.

He complied and I grimaced as he pulled out. I would definitely be sore tomorrow. Axel disposed of the condom and gave me a once over.

"Want a shower?" He asked holding a hand out.

I glanced down at my chest and nodded immediately. He pulled me up off the bed and headed into his spacious bathroom. I pulled a couple towels out of the cabinet while he turned the water on and set the temperature.

Axel turned around and leaned down to kiss my lips gently. We kept the contact soft while the water heated up then he broke away only to shift me forward first. I obligingly climbed in and rinsed off the evidence of our activities. Axel stepped in closing the curtain and his arms came up to wrap around me. I was in no hurry and leaned against his embrace comfortably.

It struck me then that I was more at ease with myself around my red-head than anyone else, except for Sora of course. He just made me feel better, I wasn't sure how else to categorize it. I felt that I could actually be my real self around him and he wouldn't judge. A lot of people tended to think I was a jackass most of the time, which I didn't really disagree with, but Axel didn't even seem to care. Probably, because he was kind of a jerk sometimes too, but he was _my_ jerk. I kind of liked that.

Axel slowly moved his arms away to reach for the shampoo and we got around to actually cleaning ourselves. I hoped Sora didn't ask for gory details, because I didn't think I wanted to share what sex with Axel was like. This one time I wanted to have something that was mine alone. I'd just encourage him to give in to poor Riku if he was curious.

Fin.

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><p>Thanks again for all the reviews and loyalty you had for this story.<p> 


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